RFK Jr Refuses to Say Healthcare Is a Human Right at Confirmation Hearing

Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to direct federal health policy, faced the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday having made a name for himself as a public figure bent on "making America healthy again"—pushing anti-scientific warnings against seed oils, falsely claiming as recently as 2023 that "autism comes from vaccines," and pledging to protect Americans from harmful toxins.

But Kennedy's confirmation hearing to be the secretary of health and human services presented the latest evidence that the environmental lawyer and former presidential candidate has little if any concern about how the health of the country is impacted by one significant factor: the fact that Americans rely on a for-profit industry—empowered to deny coverage for lifesaving treatment on a whim—in order to obtain healthcare.

In his opening statement to the committee, Kennedy signaled a lack of interest in discussions about the finances involved in the U.S. healthcare system—one in which the top five health insurers have reported more than $371 billion in profits since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, while increasingly denying medical claims and charging families an average of $26,000 per year in premiums.

"I don't want to make this too much about money," said Kennedy, adding that "the nation has been locked in a divisive healthcare debate about who pays."

He dismissed debates about whether healthcare costs at the point of service should be paid by the government, corporations, providers, or families as "like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic" and turned his attention to "chemical additives in our food supply" and "chronic disease."

Ahead of the hearing, political commentator Ben Burgis wrote at MSNBC that while Kennedy has sold himself to the public as an anti-establishment figure, unafraid of standing up to Big Pharma by spreading conspiracy theories about vaccines, "the problem is that Kennedy isn't 'anti-establishment' in any way that would actually help working-class people at the expense of wealthy plutocrats."

He has all but dismissed concerns about health insurers like UnitedHealthcare, which made $23 billion in profits last year and now reportedly denies 1 in 3 medical claims, including for cancer treatments in some cases.

"The profit motive is human nature," Kennedy said in an interview with the online news show Breaking Points in 2023.

The nominee said at the hearing that he has "often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions," but in an exchange with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) about Medicare and Medicare Advantage, the privatized system into which right-wing policymakers aim to push more seniors, even as it denies patients necessary care, Kennedy made clear again that he doesn't aim to question the status quo regarding the for-profit system.

Americans "would prefer to be on private insurance," said Kennedy. "Most Americans, if they could afford to be, will be on private insurance."

The comment drew incredulous laughter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a longtime proponent of Medicare for All, according to reports.

Kennedy didn't cite any sources for his claim. A Gallup poll last month found that 62% of U.S. adults—the highest percentage in a decade—believe the government should guarantee that all Americans have health coverage. The survey was released days after the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, an event that sparked a nationwide discussion over the for-profit healthcare industry's claim-denial practices and exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for patients, which have proven deadly for some and have pushed millions of Americans into medical debt.

Later, Sanders pointed to the $70 billion the insurance industry raked in last year as 85 million Americans remained uninsured or underinsured and asked whether Kennedy agrees that the U.S. "should join every other major country on Earth and guarantee healthcare as a human right."

Kennedy replied that healthcare should not be treated as a human right as free speech is, because "in healthcare, if you smoke cigarettes for 20 years and you get cancer, you are now taking from the pool."

Annabelle Gurwitch, an author and activist, said Kennedy's response pointed to a worldview that is "dangerous to our health."

"So now we are going to determine care based on a metric that measures perceived responsibility: We'll need to police eating habits, drinking habits, and perhaps genetics and doling out care based on that," said Gurwitch, urging senators to "vote no on Kennedy."