Roberta Flack’s hit “Killing Me Softly With His Song” could easily be used as this administration’s theme song, except the title more accurately should read “….With My Policies.” RFK Jr’s recent visit accentuated the need to highlight the devastating impact of this administration on the health and very lives of Utahns, Americans, and all humanity.
Coverage of RFK’s visit focused on Utah’s bans on water fluoridation and certain food additives in school lunches, as well as restrictions on SNAP use for certain items. The scientific merit of those measures can be debated–dental associations uniformly support water fluoridization as an effective way to prevent tooth decay. However, many other administration policies will undermine individual access to health care and damage public health infrastructure, thereby risking lives–locally, nationally, and around the globe. Let me elaborate.
The anti-DEI measures ignore the very real, well-documented, health disparities across racial, ethnic, and other demographic lines, including gender. Maternal mortality rates are one glaring example: 14.1 deaths/100,000 births for Whites vs 62.8 for Pacific Islanders. The systemic factors are many—poverty, cultural differences, access to care, and bias (implicit and overt). Regardless, efforts to change outcomes will fail without tailored approaches.
Efforts to dismantle Social Security (SS) will profoundly harm the elderly. While mouthing that the administration wants to protect it, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired employees, is shuttering offices, and tried to eliminate phone access. Data suggest that SS has kept 44% of the elderly out of poverty. Further studies show that its implementation in the 1940s rapidly reduced death rates among the elderly compared to younger groups during subsequent time periods.
The harmful impacts of current efforts to dismantle/defund Medicaid and Medicare don’t need explanation—access to affordable medical care through these programs is simply a matter of health, life, and death, as well as the financial survival of our health care infrastructure. Medicaid covers ~334K Utahns—1/13 adults, 1/6 children, 4/7 nursing home residents, 2/9 disabled adults, and 17% of births. Plans to cut Medicare are less visible, beyond rescinding coverage for weight loss drugs and cutting physician reimbursement rates. However, further cuts, if coupled with repeal or changes to the Affordable Care Act would make insurance coverage inaccessible for most older Americans, given their pre-existing health conditions.
The DOGE entourage have significantly cut several agencies and programs that directly impact the health of Americans. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is one. Cuts there included groups and programs focused on chronic diseases; injury, overdose, and suicide prevention; health inequities; and prevention of HIV, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted diseases. Beyond losses of about 20% of its workforce, about 35% of contracts are being cancelled. Funding cuts to state and local health department will affect vaccination programs and the ability to respond to disease outbreaks.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is another. Not only did DOGE cut 3,500 staff, but it also cancelled leases on 30 key facilities, such as one used for drug testing. Fired personnel included the most senior vaccine expert and about 800 persons responsible for evaluating new drug applications. Capacity to monitor and improve food safety, already strained, will be further impacted.
Cuts to National Institutes of Health (NIH) staff (1,300) and grants (35%) will have broad economic impact born heavily by research universities such as the University of Utah. However, the real losses will be cancelled research projects and clinical trials designed to advance knowledge of and treatment for diseases–COVID, Alzheimer’s Disease, aging, and cancer to name a few. A generation of students will be discouraged from careers in biomedical research.
By abolishing the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), programs disappeared that have stabilized populations worldwide and, as a result, protected Americans. These programs prevented and treated diseases that easily cross borders; prevented mass migration by feeding starving children and protecting human rights; supported emerging democracies; and simply provided friendship diplomacy.
This list is not comprehensive, but collective actions through governments can achieve things that no person or state can achieve alone. These actions have protected our public health and individual lives. Gutting them is NOT pro-life or “promot[ion of] the general Welfare” as envisioned by those who wrote the constitution.
Dr. Ellen Brady is an MD with a Masters Degree in Public Health (MPH) focused on health care systems and international health. She spent over 30 years in a career related to the pharmaceutical industry drug development process. She is also the Issues Director for the Women’s Democratic Club of Utah.
