Policy Snapshot
February 21, 2025
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create the "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) Commission, which will address chronic diseases across the United States. The commission will focus on combating a range of chronic conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and mental health disorders.
The commission will be chaired by Robert Kennedy Jr., the newly confirmed Secretary of Health and Human Services, and will include officials from various agencies, such as the EPA, Department of Agriculture, and NIH. A key focus will be studying the role of environmental factors, medications, and lifestyle choices in promoting a healthier population, particularly for children.
The commission will ensure:
- “All federally funded health research should empower Americans through transparency and open-source data, and should avoid or eliminate conflicts of interest that skew outcomes and perpetuate distrust”
- “The National Institutes of Health and other health-related research funded by the Federal Government should prioritize gold-standard research on the root causes of why Americans are getting sick”
- “Agencies shall work with farmers to ensure that United States food is the healthiest, most abundant, and most affordable in the world”
- “Agencies shall ensure the availability of expanded treatment options and the flexibility for health insurance coverage to provide benefits that support beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention”
