U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. offered high praise to Tennessee last week, when he spoke at a National Governors Association event moderated by Governor Bill Lee.
“The only way, for years, Republicans and Democrats have been talking about how to reorganize the healthcare system, whether it should be private insurance, single-payer, or public-private hybrid. But all of those ideas are like moving deck chairs around on the Titanic,” said Kennedy during the discussion with governors. “The ship is going down, the only way that we solve this problem is by ending the chronic disease epidemic.”
Kennedy held Tennessee as an example of how states can assist his agency’s efforts to make the country healthier.
“We’re seeing now these extraordinary initiatives from the states to do that. In Tennessee, you’ve got cell phone regulations in the schools, which are really, really important,” said Kennedy, referring to Tennessee’s new law, which mandates schools create cell phone use policies.
Tennessee’s law will specifically require such policies to prohibit the use of cell phones during class, unless teachers make specific arrangements for the devices to be used for educational purposes. Other exceptions were made for students who may need to use their phone for medical reasons or due to an agreement with school administrators.
Kennedy argued that chronic phone use, particularly during school hours, is responsible for a generational malaise experienced by young people.
“We have a generation that is purposeless, that is plagued by dispossession, by alienation, and the highest suicide rates in history, alcoholism, addiction,” said Kennedy. “Two years ago, we lost 106,000 kids to fentanyl overdose. I lost my niece, my brother died of a drug overdose.”
According to Kennedy, this type of behavior stems from “a lack of connection to community,” and is caused by “losing your connection to other human beings.”
He told the governors, “This generation is under assault. I would say the primary drivers of it are social media, cell phones. It’s so important to do these bell-to-bell restrictions or at least require that every school district have a cell phone plan. You don’t have to nanny manage them, you can say this is something you have to think about, you have to come up with.”
Kennedy also offered praise to Tennessee for its recent effort to change which foods can be purchased using Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, indicating that Lee asked the government for a waiver, even as the legislation remains stalled in the State Senate until 2026.
“You’ve applied for a SNAP waiver, and this is something that I would urge every governor to do,” said Kennedy.
He said of the program, “We spend $45 million a day on food stamps. Eighteen percent of that goes to soda and candy. So, we are giving this population, the poorest population in our country, diabetes, and we’re paying for it again in Medicaid.”
Kennedy later summarized the administration’s position, stating, “If you want to drink a Coke, you’re in America, you ought to be able to drink one. You can make that choice. But the federal taxpayers should not be paying for it.”
Though Tennessee’s effort will not become law this year, Kennedy said such moves at the state level have already compelled action from the food industry.
“We have 40% of the food industry that has now pledged to remove all dyes, all nine petroleum-based synthetic dyes,” he said, before explaining, “They’re coming to me, not because they’re scared of me, they’re coming because they’re scared of the governors.”
He explained, “They don’t want a patchwork of different regulations all across the country when they have a national product.”
Kennedy told the governors, “When you push this legislation in your states, it enables me, it gives me leverage to these industries to change their behavior and to change the ingredients that they’re giving us.”
Watch Kennedy’s full appearance at the National Governors Association Summer Meeting in Colorado:
– – –
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Bill Lee” by Secretary Kennedy.
