Look, I’ll be honest – when Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health Secretary, a lot of us had our doubts. A Kennedy? Really? But after what happened yesterday, I’m ready to eat my words.
Kennedy and Dr. Oz just pulled off something that seemed impossible in Washington: they actually got the insurance companies to back down. And they did it without passing some massive government takeover bill or creating another bloated federal agency.
How Real Leaders Get Things Done
Here’s what I love about this whole thing – Kennedy didn’t go the typical Washington route. He didn’t hold hearings for six months or form some stupid bipartisan commission. He got the CEOs of every major insurance company in a room and basically said, “Fix this, or we’ll fix it for you.”
And it worked. Companies represented at the roundtable included Aetna, Inc., AHIP, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Centene Corporation, The Cigna Group, Elevance Health, GuideWell, Highmark Health, Humana, Inc., Kaiser Permanente, and UnitedHealthcare. Every single one of them signed on to six major reforms.
Dr. Oz put it perfectly: “If the insurance industry cannot address the needs of pre-authorization by themselves, there are government opportunities to get involved.” Translation: Play ball, or we’ll make you play ball. That’s how you negotiate from strength.
What Actually Changes (And Why It Matters)
Starting next year, if you switch insurance plans while you’re getting treatment, your new plan has to honor your existing approvals for 90 days. No more falling through the cracks when you change jobs or get new coverage.
They’re also going digital – no more faxing forms like it’s 1995. “There shouldn’t be paper, there shouldn’t be faxes, there shouldn’t be letters being sent. They should all be done digitally and automatically,” Oz said. About time.
But here’s the big one – they’re cutting the number of procedures that need approval in the first place. Out of the about 6,000 procedures that are subject each year to prior authorization, only about 2,000-3,000 should require the process, according to Oz. That’s cutting the bureaucratic nonsense in half.
Why This Time Is Different
The insurance companies have made promises before. In 2018 and 2023, they swore they’d fix this mess. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So what’s different now?
Well, as Dr. Oz bluntly put it: “There’s violence in the streets over these issues.” He’s talking about the UnitedHealthcare CEO who got shot in New York. That’s what happens when you push regular Americans too far – they stop accepting the system as broken and start demanding real change.
The Trump administration isn’t messing around this time. CMS is going to be watching these companies like hawks, and if they don’t deliver, there will be consequences.
The Swamp Tried to Stop This
Congressman Greg Murphy from North Carolina has been fighting this battle for 35 years. Thirty-five years! “As a physician for over 30 years, I witnessed the ridiculous and ever-increasing obstructions caused by insurance companies to delay or deny care to patients,” he said. “Practices have had to hire many more staff just simply to fight with insurance companies.”
Think about that – doctors are hiring people just to argue with insurance companies all day instead of treating patients. That’s not healthcare, that’s legalized extortion.
What Kennedy Got Right
“Americans shouldn’t have to negotiate with their insurer to get the care they need,” Kennedy said. “Pitting patients and their doctors against massive companies was not good for anyone.”
This is exactly the kind of straight talk we need more of in Washington. Kennedy understands that this isn’t about left versus right – it’s about regular people versus corporate bureaucrats who care more about their quarterly profits than whether your grandmother gets her cancer treatment on time.
The Bottom Line
Look, I didn’t think I’d be writing a column praising a Kennedy anytime soon. But credit where credit’s due – RFK Jr. just delivered on something that affects every single American family. He took on one of the most powerful industries in the country and won.
Is it perfect? No. Will there be implementation problems? Probably. But for the first time in decades, someone in Washington actually stood up to the insurance companies and made them blink.
That’s the kind of leadership we voted for. Not more committees, not more studies, not more bipartisan hand-wringing. Just results.
Kennedy called this a “monumental accomplishment,” and you know what? He’s not wrong. When 85% of Americans are getting screwed by the same broken system, fixing it is pretty monumental.
Now let’s see if he can keep the momentum going on the rest of the healthcare mess. But for today, this is a win we can all celebrate.
