Trump’s Whole-Of-Government Approach To MAHA Is The Holistic Health Strategy We Need

Last week, almost immediately after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s swearing-in as secretary of health and human services (HHS), Donald Trump established an interagency commission to follow through on his promise to “Make America Healthy Again.” This holistic approach to solving the country’s chronic disease epidemic is the only way to reverse it. 

Carrying the same name as the slogan, the commission’s goal is to focus the country’s ever-expanding health care resources on ending chronic disease, with the ultimate goal of significantly reducing health care spending. The United States spends more on health care than any other wealthy country. According to Statista, annual health expenditures stood at over $4.4 trillion in 2022, and personal health care expenditures equaled $11,197 per resident. Roughly 90 percent of that number goes toward treating chronic disease and mental health problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).