RFK Jr Pressed on Whether He and Trump Will 'Cave to Big Pharma' on Medicare Drug Prices
"Will you defend the law in the Inflation Reduction Act which already is negotiating prescription drug prices?" Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Kennedy during his second confirmation hearing.
"Will you defend the law in the Inflation Reduction Act which already is negotiating prescription drug prices?" Sen. Bernie Sanders asked Kennedy during his second confirmation hearing.
THE RASPY VOICE OF A CARTOON VULTURE
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to be secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, testifies in front of the Senate Finance Committee on January 29, 2025.
(Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Jake Johnson
Jan 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Senate Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday pressed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Health and Human Services Department, to pledge that the new administration won't give in to the pharmaceutical industry's attacks on a popular Medicare drug price negotiation program that has already yielded significant results.
Sanders raised the matter during Kennedy's confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on which the Vermont senator serves as the ranking member.
"Will you defend the law in the Inflation Reduction Act which already is negotiating prescription drug prices?" Sanders asked, referring to the Biden-era measure that empowered Medicare to negotiate the prices of a select number of prescription drugs directly with pharmaceutical companies.
Declining to provide a yes or no answer to Sanders' question, Kennedy replied that "President Trump wants us to negotiate drug prices" and added that, if confirmed as Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, he would "comply with the laws."
Watch:
The exchange came after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency within HHS, issued a statement Wednesday declaring that "lowering the cost of prescription drugs for Americans is a top priority of President Trump and his administration" and expressing commitment to "incorporating lessons learned to date from the [Inflation Reduction Act] program and to considering opportunities to bring greater transparency in the negotiation program."
"CMS intends to provide opportunities for stakeholders to provide specific ideas to improve the negotiation program, consistent with the goals of achieving greater value for beneficiaries and taxpayers and continuing to foster innovation," the agency added.
While some advocates for lower drug prices cautiously welcomed the CMS statement, Senate Democrats warned Thursday that its choice of language "appeared to open the door to Big Pharma's requests."
"If confirmed as secretary, you will be under tremendous pressure to cave to Big Pharma and undermine Medicare drug price negotiation Republicans have worked in lock-step with Big Pharma by relentlessly attacking Medicare drug price negotiation at every turn," a group of 12 Senate Democrats and Sanders wrote in a letter to Kennedy. "Now, Republicans have unified control of the federal government. They will undoubtedly try to leverage this power to walk back the progress Democrats made to lower drug prices through this important new authority."
The letter pushes Kennedy to answer a number of questions related to the drug price negotiation program, including whether he would recommend that the Trump administration defend the program from the pharmaceutical industry's ongoing legal assault.
"On behalf of the tens of millions of Americans who count on Medicare," the new letter states, "Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee want to know whether the Trump administration will follow through on negotiating with Big Pharma to deliver the lower costs promised to the American people."
After Trump announced his intent to nominate Kennedy as HHS chief late last year, the pharmaceutical lobby made clear its plan to push the new administration to undercut the price negotiation program that is poised to deliver billions of dollars in savings by bringing down the prices of expensive and widely used medications.
Earlier this month, the CEO of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly said his company and other drugmakers would ask the Trump administration to pause the price-negotiation program, claiming that "they need to fix it" before proceeding to talks over the next slate of 15 drugs selected in the final days of the Biden administration.
In their letter on Thursday, the senators demanded that Kennedy "confirm in writing" that he "will follow the law and reject
Big Pharma's request to pause Medicare drug price negotiation."
RFK Jr Refuses to Say Healthcare Is a Human Right at Confirmation Hearing
"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."
Robert Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary of health and human services nominee, testifies during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his nomination in Washington, D.C. on January 29, 2025.
(Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
Julia Conley
Jan 29, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
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."
'That is so dangerous': RFK Jr. blasted for claim on Black immunity and vaccines
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on January 30, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via @atrupar / X)
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on January 30, 2025 (Image: Screengrab via @atrupar / X)
January 30, 2025
ALTERNET
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, faced grilling from Democrats and at least one Republican on day two of his Senate confirmation hearing. One Democrat declared RFK Jr.’s views on vaccinations and immunity “dangerous” after he claimed Black people have stronger immune systems than White people.
“You said the following, and I quote: ‘We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to Whites, because their immune system is better than ours.’ Can you please explain what you meant?” U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) asked (video below), after quoting Kennedy’s remarks about Black people and vaccines back to him.
“There’s a series of studies, I think most of them by [Andrew] Pollard that the particular antigens that show that Blacks have a much stronger reaction. There’s differences in reaction to different products by different races,” Kennedy responded, a claim he has made before.
“So what different vaccine schedule would you say, I should have received?” Senator Alsobrooks asked.
“Well, I mean, the Pollard article suggests that Blacks need fewer antigens —”
“This is so dangerous,” the Maryland Democrat Senator replied. “Mr. Kennedy with all due respect, that is so dangerous.”
“Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to, that is so dangerous,” Alsobrooks continued. “I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country.”
On the website for his anti-vaccine non-profit’s website, Kennedy made that and other similar statements.
“As it turns out, blacks have a much more robust immune system than whites,” the website’s exact transcript of Kennedy’s remarks during an interview reads. “We now know this because there was a guy called Andrew Pollard who is on their side, and he works for the Mayo Clinic, and he’s done these studies. And what he’s found out is that blacks only need half of the antigen that whites do. So if you’re trying to immunize black for measles, if you’re trying to immunize a white person, you need to give a certain amount of the measles virus to them, the dead virus or the live virus. For a black, they’ll get the same immune response if they get half that now.”
The Washington Post this week reported that Kennedy “has repeatedly disparaged vaccines, falsely linked themto autism and argued that White and Black people should have separate vaccination schedules, according to a Washington Post review of his public statements from recent years.”
The Post, highlighting Kennedy’s remarks that Black people’s immune systems are better than White people’s, reported: “Several experts said no scientific basis exists to support that claim.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, faced grilling from Democrats and at least one Republican on day two of his Senate confirmation hearing. One Democrat declared RFK Jr.’s views on vaccinations and immunity “dangerous” after he claimed Black people have stronger immune systems than White people.
“You said the following, and I quote: ‘We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to Whites, because their immune system is better than ours.’ Can you please explain what you meant?” U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) asked (video below), after quoting Kennedy’s remarks about Black people and vaccines back to him.
“There’s a series of studies, I think most of them by [Andrew] Pollard that the particular antigens that show that Blacks have a much stronger reaction. There’s differences in reaction to different products by different races,” Kennedy responded, a claim he has made before.
“So what different vaccine schedule would you say, I should have received?” Senator Alsobrooks asked.
“Well, I mean, the Pollard article suggests that Blacks need fewer antigens —”
“This is so dangerous,” the Maryland Democrat Senator replied. “Mr. Kennedy with all due respect, that is so dangerous.”
“Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to, that is so dangerous,” Alsobrooks continued. “I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country.”
On the website for his anti-vaccine non-profit’s website, Kennedy made that and other similar statements.
“As it turns out, blacks have a much more robust immune system than whites,” the website’s exact transcript of Kennedy’s remarks during an interview reads. “We now know this because there was a guy called Andrew Pollard who is on their side, and he works for the Mayo Clinic, and he’s done these studies. And what he’s found out is that blacks only need half of the antigen that whites do. So if you’re trying to immunize black for measles, if you’re trying to immunize a white person, you need to give a certain amount of the measles virus to them, the dead virus or the live virus. For a black, they’ll get the same immune response if they get half that now.”
The Washington Post this week reported that Kennedy “has repeatedly disparaged vaccines, falsely linked themto autism and argued that White and Black people should have separate vaccination schedules, according to a Washington Post review of his public statements from recent years.”
The Post, highlighting Kennedy’s remarks that Black people’s immune systems are better than White people’s, reported: “Several experts said no scientific basis exists to support that claim.”
Watch the video below or at this link.
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