RFK Jr doesn’t want to prevent Alzheimers


As the American population ages, the burden of dementia care is increasing. While the GOP congress hopes to ease that burden by cutting Medicaid funding and letting those folks die*, RFK Jr is tackling the prevention side to make sure more Americans and their loved ones suffer from this awful condition:

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., newly confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, is famous for critiquing what many consider settled science and promoting conspiracy theories.

“He could soon make himself known for something new: becoming the first HHS secretary to torpedo Alzheimer’s research.

“Kennedy and the Trump administration are turning the clock back on decades of Alzheimer’s research by eliminating diversity in clinical trials, slashing funding for cutting-edge projects, and firing employees who conduct some of the most rigorous research in the world.

“At his January confirmation hearings before the US Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy attacked the National Institutes of Health’s research record on Alzheimer’s disease, rarely a hot-button topic in Congress. Kennedy accused the NIH of funding fraudulent Alzheimer’s research in the early 2000s and wasting two decades of time and money.”

He found one example of fraud and smears the entire field because of it. He uses this smear to justify cutting back on research for diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Since these cuts will justify massive tax cuts for the 1% and corporations, I guess the math pencils out for the Trump/Musk administration. Of course, Trump’s dad died of Alzheimers and Trump will be 82 at the end of his term. Some say he’s already dementing.

*full disclosure: my dad had Alzheimers and lived his last two years in a nursing home, paid for by Medicaid.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/02/27/opinion/rfk-trump-alzheimers-research-nih-funding/

 

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