Health
RFK Jr. Appears Unfamiliar With Key Elements of Medicare and Medicaid
In a tense exchange with Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. displayed a surprising lack of familiarity with Medicare and Medicaid, the government programs responsible for covering more than 150 million Americans.
At times, Mr. Kennedy seemed to confuse the two programs. Medicare is a federal program that provides coverage to older and disabled Americans, while Medicaid is a state-federal program that covers low-income people.
When he first described Medicare, he seemed to ignore the half of the Medicare program that relies on private insurance plans to provide care. Later, he acknowledged that he was enrolled in a private Medicare Advantage plan and said he thought “more people would rather be on Medicare Advantage because it offers very good services.”
Medicare Advantage plans have been heavily criticized by lawmakers, including by federal regulators Mr. Kennedy would oversee if confirmed and by public advocacy groups. They have accused the plans, including those offered by the nation’s biggest insurers, of overcharging the government, delaying and denying access to care. Regulators have penalized some insurers for overbilling.
Mr. Kennedy described Medicaid as “fully paid for by the federal government.” In fact, Medicaid, which provides health insurance coverage to nearly 80 million low-income Americans, is financed through a combination of state and federal funds.
Mr. Kennedy also claimed that many Medicaid enrollees were frustrated by high costs they face with their public insurance coverage.
“Most people who are on Medicaid are not happy,” Mr. Kennedy claimed. “The premiums are too high. The deductibles are too high.”
He repeated a similar argument later in the hearing, facing questioning from Senator Ben Ray Lujan, Democrat of New Mexico. “The premiums are too high, the deductibles are too high, and everybody’s getting sicker,” he said.
But the vast majority of Medicaid enrollees do not pay any premiums or deductibles for their coverage. Federal law specifically prohibits premiums for the lowest-income Medicaid enrollees. Patients typically do not have to pay anything when they go to the doctor, aside from a handful of state-based experiments that have tested out small fees.
Recent research on Medicaid does not support Mr. Kennedy’s contention that “everyone’s getting sicker.” Studies generally find that increased Medicaid enrollment improves people’s access to health care. Some studies have also found that Medicaid improves health outcomes, although that is a more limited body of research.
Senator Cassidy asked Mr. Kennedy to describe how he would reform the Medicaid program. While other Trump nominees have offered concrete policy proposals — Russell Vought, the nominee to run the Office of Budget and Management, suggested a work requirement for the program in his confirmation hearing last week — Mr. Kennedy described vaguer changes.
He said he supported changes to “increase transparency” and “increase accountability.”
When Mr. Cassidy pressed him to be more specific, Mr. Kennedy responded, “I don’t have a broad proposal for dismantling the program.”
Mr. Kennedy did seem prepared, however, to be asked about the enrollment figures for Medicaid, accurately telling senators that the program covers about 72 million people through the traditional public insurance program and an additional seven million through a targeted benefit, the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
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Scientists may have found a way to stop Alzheimer’s damage before it starts — by “melting” the tiny protein clumps that are the early triggers of the disease.
Alzheimer’s has long been linked to harmful tau protein fibrils that build up in the brain and interfere with cognitive function, but researchers have now discovered soft, small clusters that appear first.
When those early clusters were dissolved, it prevented the toxic fibrils from forming, which could effectively block the disease, according to researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University.
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Led by Professor Rei Kurita, the scientists used precise X-ray and fluorescence methods in a laboratory setting to find the microscopic “precursors,” which measured only tens of nanometers, according to a press release.
Because the tiny precursors were soft, the researchers were able to dissolve them. As a result, no tau fibrils were formed.
Scientists may have found a way to stop Alzheimer’s damage before it starts — by “melting” the tiny protein clumps that are the early triggers of the disease. (iStock)
These results suggest a shift in how scientists might develop Alzheimer’s disease treatments.
Rather than focusing on breaking apart the final fibril formations, new therapies could target the earlier, reversible precursor stage to prevent harmful structures from forming in the first place, according to the release.
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This strategy could eventually be applied to the research of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.
The study did have some limitations, primarily that it involved in-vitro biochemical models and no humans or animals. It’s not known whether similar reversible clusters exist in human brain tissue.
Alzheimer’s has long been linked to harmful tau protein fibrils that build up in the brain and interfere with cognitive function. (iStock)
More research is needed to find out if breaking up these protein clusters is safe and could actually help treat the disease.
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Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, was not involved in the study but shared his reactions to the findings.
“There are three essential components structurally involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease — beta amyloid proteins, tau proteins and neuroinflammation,” he told Fox News Digital.
“In the future, there will likely be triple therapy — anti-inflammation, anti-beta-amyloid and anti-tau.”
“There are already treatments on the market to target beta amyloid buildup, and now here’s a targeted therapy to dissolve and disrupt tau protein buildup before it forms the dreaded neurofibrillatory tangles.”
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Siegel believes this is “bound to be of clinical value” and will likely be better tolerated than other medications currently on the market.
“In the future, there will likely be triple therapy — anti-inflammation, anti-beta-amyloid and anti-tau,” he predicts.
“This is promising basic research that may turn out to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the disease, but it is preliminary,” an expert said. (iStock)
Courtney Kloske, Ph.D., director of scientific engagement for the Alzheimer’s Association in Chicago, also reacted to the study in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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“This manuscript focuses on altering the structure of tau, one of the hallmark brain proteins involved in Alzheimer’s, and on exploring approaches that could potentially slow or stop disease development,” said Kloske, who was also not involved in the study.
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“This is promising basic research that may turn out to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the disease, but it is preliminary, and additional studies are needed to determine how these findings can be translated into human studies.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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With over 32 million Americans battling food allergies, health advocates and officials are looking for the root cause — which includes looking into microbiomes.
The Food Allergy Fund (FAF) hosted a forum on Monday in Washington, D.C., with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, FDA Chief Martin Makary and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Makary shared how the function of microbiomes has evolved over time.
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The intestine hosts over a billion different types of bacteria, which normally live in balance, according to Makary.
The doctor added, “but when it’s altered by the modern-day diet and by antibiotics and other exposures … that disequilibrium can cause inflammation, it can cause health problems, and it may be implicated in food allergies.”
“Gut health is central to overall health,” said Makary, pictured at a Nov. 16 forum hosted by the Food Allergy Fund. (Ashley J. DiMella/Fox News Digital)
“Gut health is central to overall health,” Makary emphasized. Some beneficial microbes may be missing in modern populations due to dietary and environmental changes, which could play a role in the rise of food allergies, he added.
Researchers at Siolta Therapeutics are testing this theory. Their oral microbiome therapy, STMC-103H, has shown promising results in a Phase 2 trial involving 238 newborns with a family history of allergies.
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Early data suggests the therapy could reduce the risk of developing food allergies by 77%, indicating that improving gut bacteria early in life could prevent allergies before they start.
Final results are expected in early 2026.
Early data suggests the therapy could reduce the risk of developing food allergies by 77%, indicating that improving gut bacteria early in life could prevent allergies before they start. (iStock)
Ilana Golant, FAF founder and CEO, told Fox News Digital “food allergies may be the canary in the coal mine for a much larger health crisis tied to the microbiome.”
FAF launched its Food Allergy Fund Microbiome Collective in New York City to further investigate how gut bacteria could help prevent or treat not only allergies, but also autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.
“Gut health is central to overall health.”
“Solving allergies could reveal how to prevent and treat a range of diseases — from autoimmune disorders to neurodegeneration — that impact millions of lives,” said Golant.
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Food allergies are widespread, affecting one in 10 adults and one in 13 children, according to FAF. Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is treated in the emergency room for a severe allergic reaction.
Peanut allergies are among the most prevalent food allergies in the U.S., with new research showing that early peanut introduction could significantly reduce childhood allergies.
Ilana Golant, FAF founder and CEO (left), chats with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington, D.C., at the Food Allergy Fund Forum. (Ashley J. DiMella/Fox News Digital)
Secretary Kennedy observed at the FAF conference that food allergies — particularly involving peanuts — appear to be far more common among children today than when he was growing up.
“When I was a kid, I never met anyone with a peanut allergy,” Kennedy said. “I had 11 siblings and about 71 first cousins, and I didn’t know a single person in my schools or at any of the camps I went to who had one.”
“There may be many causes, or there may be just one — we don’t know yet.”
One of his sons has severe anaphylactic allergies to peanuts, tree nuts and several other foods, he shared.
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“By the time he was 2 years old, we’d been to the emergency room about 22 times,” Kennedy said.
“At first, I focused on how we were going to treat it and keep him safe. But my mind quickly went to the bigger question — why is this happening? I have five of my seven children with allergies,” he said.
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“There may be many causes, or there may be just one — we don’t know yet,” Kennedy continued. “But we’re going to study it. We’re going to break that omertà, end the taboo and find out what’s causing it.”
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