WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s alternating views on vaccines, reproductive rights and public health issues were central focus at the initial confirmation hearing Wednesday. .
Kennedy has pledged to bring “radical transparency” to the Department of Health and Human Services if confirmed by the US Senate, but he has been told that he will be doing large health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid during the nearly four-hour hearing. They did not detail the plan.
Kennedy repeatedly testified before the Finance Committee to reduce chronic diseases across the country and lead scientific research.
However, the Democratic senator was skeptical that if confirmed as a secretary to HHS, he improved national health outcomes and listed some of his past claims that were not supported by research or medicine. .
“For a long time, the country has been trapped in a divisive healthcare debate about who pays. Once healthcare costs reach 20%, there is no good option. Just a bad option,” Kennedy said. Ta. “Moving the burden between the government and businesses, insurance companies, providers and families is like relocating a Titanic deck chair.”
Kennedy said if confirmed, federal spending on nutrition programs will be spent on “healthy foods” and will be strengthened scrutiny of “chemical additives in the food supply.” .
“We will remove financial conflicts of interest from our institutions. We will create honest and fair gold standard science at HHS and be responsible for the President, Congress and the American people,” Kennedy adds. I did. “We will reverse the epidemic of chronic diseases and bring the nation back to health.”
Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders questioned how senators and Americans could trust what Kennedy said. During the hearinggiven the rapid shift in opinions regarding vaccine safety and the role of government in abortion access compared to comments last year.
“Why do you think you should be confident in your consistency and work,” Sanders said.
“Conspiracy Theory, Quacks, Charlatans.”
Ron Wyden, a ranking member of the Finance Committee, an Oregon Democrat, told Kennedy that he “accepted conspiracy theory, Quacks, Charlatans” on some of his previous comments on vaccine safety.
“Mr. Kennedy has changed his opinion frequently, but it’s almost impossible to know where he stands in many of the basic issues that affect Americans’ daily lives,” Wyden said. I said.
Kennedy testified at several points during the hearing that he supports certain vaccines such as measles and polio, and supports research into science-collective medicine.
“I support vaccines. I support my childhood schedule. Kennedy said, “All I want is good science. That’s it.”
New Hampshire Democrat Sen. Maggie Hassan said Americans should be proud that the vaccine has eradicated largely fatal diseases in the United States, including polio and natural PO.
“As a secretary, you are very concerned that by stopping research on important vaccines and advising children not to vaccinate them, you can exploit the natural concerns of parents,” Hassan said. . “This leads to more children getting sick, some even die.
“Before the measles vaccine, about 500 American children died of measles in a year. This is too much risk for our country, and the anti-vaccine view you’ve promoted for 25 years. There’s no reason for any of us to believe that we’ve reversed the story.”
Abortion medication
Kennedy, who issued several different statements about abortion access during his failed run to the president, pledged at the hearing to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda on reproductive rights, whatever it may be.
Anti-abortion groups argue that the Trump administration will limit access to medication abortions. This is a two-drug regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for pregnancy up to 10 weeks. The FDA is housed within the HHS.
“President Trump asked me to study the safety of Mifepristone,” Kennedy said. “He’s not yet facing the way to regulate it. Whatever he does, I’ll implement those policies. I’ll work with this committee and these policies make sense. I’ll do that.”
The FDA originally approved Mifepristone in 2000 and made several changes to its prescription guidelines in 2016.
These changes included changes in pregnancy limits increased from 7 to 10 weeks and changes in dosage and timing for both medications. Updated guidelines have enabled qualified healthcare providers to prescribe medications not only in their doctors, but also in Mifepristone. And the requirement for three in-person clinic visits has been removed.
Many medical institutions including the American Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, and the Maternal and Fetal Medicine Association A brief was filed with the Supreme Court Prove the safety and efficacy of mifepristone in the case last year Ultimately, access to medication abortion was left unchanged.
Kennedy also said during the hearing that he supports Trump’s policy regarding the title of the X Family Planning Grant program.
Federal law prevents taxpayer dollars from going for abortion, with the exception of rape, incest, or the lives of pregnant patients.
Emergency treatment
Kennedy didn’t appear to be familiar with federal laws that would allow patients to access emergency care, regardless of their insurance situation.
The emergency medical and labor law, or the law known as Emtala, is a point of strong discrepancy between Republican-controlled states and the Biden administration after the Supreme Court ended its constitutional rights to abortion in 2022. did.
It is the subject of an ongoing case I went to the Supreme Court Before being sent back to the Circuit Court, I heard the discussion In December.
Nevada Democratic Sen. Katherine Cortez Mast asked Kennedy a series of questions about protections under Emtala during the hearing.
Kennedy said yes. However, he said he doesn’t know whether the law will protect women experiencing life-threatening bleeding from an incomplete miscarriage where doctors say they need an abortion.
Kennedy struggled to answer another question from Cortez Masto about authorities enforcing EMTALA at hospitals where HHS receives Medicare funding.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are “in fact investigating complaints about Emtala violations and, by the way, the Health and Welfare Inspector General, who was fired by Donald Trump,” she said.
“So you’re going to enforce Emtala’s law. It’s important that you understand their influence and don’t put the politics in the ER based on the position that this administration has taken,” Cortez Masto said. I did.
Cassidy’s questions about Medicaid
Kennedy similarly struggled to answer questions from Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy about Medicare and Medicaid.
Cassidy – The doctors and chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which will host Kennedy’s confirmation hearing on Thursday, repeatedly asked Kennedy how to improve Medicaid.
Kennedy listed criticisms of the program before saying that states should experiment with pilot programs and that the goal should be value-based care, transparency and accountability.
Before talking about AI nurses, Kennedy said there are many options through telehealth and artificial intelligence.
When asked by Cassidy about people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, Kennedy said he believes the answer is “the program is integrated, integrated, and care is integrated.”
But Kennedy had no answer when he pushed how he handled it. He also got basic facts about Medicaid. Among them is inaccurate that costs are shared between the federal and state governments.
“I’m not there so I don’t know exactly,” Kennedy said. “So it’s difficult to integrate because Medicare is being served for the service and is being paid by employer tax. Medicaid is being paid entirely by the federal government, and that’s not a service charge. So. I don’t know the answer to that. I look forward to exploring the options with you.”
Kennedy answered a question from Cassidy and mentioned the difference between traditional Medicare and Medicare advantages, and the difference that people have a “now” choice, but he said that more people have a Medicare He said he wanted to be an advantage. Expensive price.
Covid-19 claims
Another potentially damaging exchange with Kennedy’s confirmation prospects came when Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennett asked a series of questions about previous statements Kennedy made on various public health issues. Ta.
“Mr. Kennedy, did you say that Covid-19 was a genetically modified creature targeting blacks and whites, but escaped the Jews and Chinese of Ashkenazi?” asked Bennett.
Kennedy replied, “I didn’t say I was intentionally targeted.”
Kennedy said he “probably” commented that Lyme disease was a biological age of military engineering.
Kennedy, following Bennett’s question, stated that he was unsure if in one of his books he wrote, “It cannot be denied that African AIDS is a completely different disease from Western AIDS.”
However, Kennedy refused to issue a statement that pesticides would make children transgender.
Bennett said he would enter those previous Kennedy statements into the official committee records.
Last updated at 6:06 PM, January 29, 2025
