&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "US is 'the sickest country in the world', says Robert F Kennedy Jr before Senate committee amid CDC upheaval")
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr delivered a stinging assessment of the country’s health during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday (September 4), declaring America to be ‘the sickest country in the world’. Kennedy used the moment to defend his sweeping overhaul of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has faced turmoil following the dismissal of Director Susan Monarez and the disbanding of key advisory boards. He argued that the agency’s failures, particularly exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, justified decisive intervention.
“Chronic disease has bankrupted us,” Kennedy was quoted saying to lawmakers. “We are confronting a national health emergency, and the CDC must be rebuilt to serve the people, not special interests.”
The committee session quickly turned contentious. Democratic senators questioned whether Kennedy’s drastic steps risk destabilising one of the country's most vital health agencies. Even some Republicans expressed concern about the scale of firings and resignations at the CDC in recent weeks. More than 1,000 current and former Health and Human Services staff have signed letters urging Kennedy to step down, warning that his approach politicises science and undermines public trust.
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Kennedy’s remarks tie into a recurring theme of his leadership: the claim that, despite spending more on healthcare than any other country, the United States lags on basic health outcomes. Independent analysts, however, warned that his characterisation oversimplifies complex global data and risks eroding confidence in US public health institutions.
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Still, his framing of chronic disease as an existential threat has resonated with parts of the public, particularly amid rising costs of healthcare and growing distrust of government institutions.
