Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and leader of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement, recently said that Americans with unhealthy lifestyles – such as those who smoke, drink sugary drinks or consume junk food – should not have free access to health care. “If you smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, should you expect society to pay when you get sick?” he said in an interview with CBS.
MAHA is a political movement that aims to transform public health in the United States, addressing issues such as chronic diseases, regenerative agriculture, environmental sustainability and government transparency, including through executive orders to reform the health care system. However, according to recent data, about 60 percent of the U.S. population suffers from chronic diseases, and the trend is on the rise.
Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, supported Kennedy Jr.’s position, stressing that individuals must “take more personal responsibility.” According to him, those who become ill because of poor eating habits should not receive the same kind of public care as those with congenital conditions.
As reported by the Daily Mail, about 120 million Americans – nearly one-third of the population — receive health coverage through government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, TRICARE and TRICARE . If Kennedy Jr.’s proposed ideas were adopted into law, they could radically change the criteria for access to these services.
