Background

HHS Secretary Kennedy has expressed concern over the incidence of chronic disease in adults and children. However, he has also expressed skepticism over current treatment methodologies, such as antidepressants, vaccines and GLP-1 medications for obesity, such as Ozempic^®, Wegovy^®, Zepbound^® and Mounjaro^®. The new commission will be his first opportunity to present new issues and recommendations for combatting chronic disease and should shine a light on the administration’s key health policy concerns.

The executive order

The executive order finds that America should redirect its national focus in both the public and private sectors toward understanding and drastically lowering chronic disease rates and ending childhood chronic disease. Segal’s 2025 Health Care Plan Cost Trend Survey has found that rising rates of chronic conditions do contribute to overall healthcare spending, including conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions and obesity.

The executive order suggests that fresh thinking is needed on wellness initiatives, such as nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, overreliance on medications and treatments, the effects of new technology, habits, environmental impacts and food and drug quality and safety.

The executive order states that it will be the policy of the federal government to ensure transparency and open-source data, gold-standard research into the root causes of illness, healthy, abundant and affordable food, and the flexibility for health insurance coverage to provide benefits that support beneficial lifestyle changes and disease prevention.

Executive orders are not self-implementing. Consequently, HHS and other federal departments are likely to issue guidance or proposed rules reflecting the order’s policy pronouncements.

The commission

The Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy will serve as Executive Director of the Make America Healthy Again Commission. The Commission will include representatives of the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Management and Budget, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, National Economic Council, Council of Economic Advisors, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes for Health (NIH).

The commission is directed to:

• Study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation and corporate influence or cronyism.
• Advise and assist the president on informing the American people regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, using transparent and clear facts.
• Provide government-wide recommendations on policy and strategy related to addressing the identified contributing causes of and ending the childhood chronic disease crisis.

The Commission has a short timeline in which to accomplish its mandate. The Make Our Children Healthy Again Assessment must make a comprehensive review of childhood chronic disease in America, assessing various threats to child health and best practices for health promotion. One aspect of the assessment which may prove controversial is the order to assess the prevalence of and threat posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and weight-loss drugs.

After presenting the assessment the Commission must produce a strategy that addresses restructuring the federal government’s response to the childhood chronic disease crisis. In the process of developing the strategy, HHS Secretary Kennedy may hold public meetings, roundtables and similar events and receive expert input from leaders in public health and government accountability.

Implications for plan sponsors

The commission will be considering public health issues that have long been a concern for group health plan sponsors. Plan sponsors have continued to support wellness initiatives to increase the health of their populations, including looking at nutrition, physical activity and social determinants of health, such as access to healthy food.

Based on the goals of the commission, it is possible that recommendations could include increased scrutiny of use and approval of medications to children, modifications to the FDA’s approval methods for such medication, and consideration of non-traditional treatment methods for chronic disease.

Regarding health insurance flexibility, it is possible that the administration could consider expanding the type of medical expenses that can be covered by health plans, particularly with respect to digital tools, such as fitness trackers or dietary supplements.

Plan sponsors should monitor the ongoing work of the commission and determine whether there are opportunities to present information based on their own experiences. Plan sponsors should work with their professional advisors to ensure that any regulatory developments based on the executive order are implemented.