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RFK Jr. Wants a Wearable on Every American Body
Charlie McGill
Between his defunding of mRNA research, firing of the CDC’s entire 17-member vaccine advisory panel, and crusade against fluoride in drinking water, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA agenda has followed a fairly predictable path, given his long-standing advocacy of crank health remedies and vaccine science denialism. But in the last few months, one RFK policy has come out of left field: his embrace of wearable health technology as a “key” part of the MAHA agenda.
In the past, Kennedy was a harsh critic of the privacy problems with wearable technology. But now, he is a committed enthusiast. Curious!
Advanced surveillance devices attached to your body are rather at odds with the traditional woo-woo fashion for “natural” treatments and food. But in a way, it makes sense. Wearables—a broad category that spans smartwatches and fitness trackers to glucose monitors and therapeutic devices—have exploded in popularity in the last couple of years, as consumer preferences have shifted in a health-conscious direction and rates of chronic disease continue to rise. By promising to put more data in the hands of users and allow individuals to take a preventative approach to health care and wellness, the philosophy behind wearables often echoes the rhetoric of the MAHA movement.
In testimony to the House Energy Committee on June 24th, this connection was made explicit by Kennedy himself. Asked about Americans’ access to wearables, RFK praised the technology as “a way people can take control of their own health” and announced “one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history” to encourage their use. The goal, RFK testified, was to have “every American” using the technology in the next four years.
This full-throated endorsement by the Health and Human Services secretary was the latest win in a meteoric rise for the wearables industry, a $53 billion market whose size is projected to triple in the next decade. While “wearables started with things like tracking heart rates or steps,” says Al Noshirvani, the vice chair of the Health & Fitness Association’s board of directors, it’s now “moving at a million miles an hour. There’s a lot of new and innovative technologies that are coming out.”
In the past, Kennedy was a harsh critic of the privacy problems with wearable technology. But now, he is a committed enthusiast. Curious!
Advanced surveillance devices attached to your body are rather at odds with the traditional woo-woo fashion for “natural” treatments and food. But in a way, it makes sense. Wearables—a broad category that spans smartwatches and fitness trackers to glucose monitors and therapeutic devices—have exploded in popularity in the last couple of years, as consumer preferences have shifted in a health-conscious direction and rates of chronic disease continue to rise. By promising to put more data in the hands of users and allow individuals to take a preventative approach to health care and wellness, the philosophy behind wearables often echoes the rhetoric of the MAHA movement.
In testimony to the House Energy Committee on June 24th, this connection was made explicit by Kennedy himself. Asked about Americans’ access to wearables, RFK praised the technology as “a way people can take control of their own health” and announced “one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history” to encourage their use. The goal, RFK testified, was to have “every American” using the technology in the next four years.
This full-throated endorsement by the Health and Human Services secretary was the latest win in a meteoric rise for the wearables industry, a $53 billion market whose size is projected to triple in the next decade. While “wearables started with things like tracking heart rates or steps,” says Al Noshirvani, the vice chair of the Health & Fitness Association’s board of directors, it’s now “moving at a million miles an hour. There’s a lot of new and innovative technologies that are coming out.”
https://prospect.org/health/2025-08-28-rfk-jr-wants-wearable-on-every-american/]
15 replies
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Just sayin'. 
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