Why is it that Americans question and debate everything?
It doesn’t matter if you have two Americans talking about the economy, foreign relations or the MLB. Somehow, Americans will find a way to disagree with no hope that the middle-ground will ever appear. This is especially true with politics.
However, one of the greatest examples of how political contention strangles our nation is healthcare. To explain what I mean by this, think about how some Democrats, like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the debate stage in 2016, have shown that they’re divided on the best course when it comes to American healthcare.
Taking this sentiment a step further, ask yourself if you agree more with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Bernie Sanders when it comes to healthcare. Better yet, ask yourself if you can bring up either of those two people during a Thanksgiving dinner and honestly say that everyone will have the same take or conclusion.
This is my point: when it comes to healthcare, it is an incredibly disputable topic that seems to be evolving more and more. This evolution has proven to take a darker turn. Take how United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on a street not too far away from our own Lincoln Center campus, for example.
Healthcare is so contentious that even a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing devolved into heated debates between RFK Jr. and lawmakers on Capitol Hill because of recent developments at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you watched it, you might find that it was very similar to something you could witness at your own Thanksgiving dinner.
The question that Americans like myself are asking is this: Why are we so divided on healthcare today? What are the nuts-and-bolts and the basis for it?
If you’re observant, you might note that people started to pay more attention to healthcare when RFK Jr. was chosen to be in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Moreover, people started to pay more attention to healthcare when the revolving doors of employment at the CDC started to spin.
For background, the now-former Director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, was fired by President Donald Trump in late August. Amongst many of her duties that she held, she was responsible for “[P]rotecting Americans against infectious diseases at home and abroad,” as the HHS put it in a release on X that announced her departure.
After she was fired, Monarez’s Attorney, Mark Zaid, claimed that Monarez was “targeted” for her refusal “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated public health experts.”
Though Zaid didn’t advance or clarify exactly how Monarez was asked to “rubber-stamp” such directives, a White House spokesman responded to Zaid’s statement, saying that she was “not aligned with the President’s agenda of Making America Healthy Again.”
However, a week after the White House offered its explanation, Monarez wrote a charged commentary in the Wall Street Journal. She explained her departure from her point of view, which has also been disputed by Kennedy.
In her article, Monarez expressed how employees relayed to her that the CDC needed to “take immediate steps to rebuild public trust,” relating to vaccines. Monarez added that she was told by RFK Jr. that she would have to resign or be fired if she did not “compromise science itself.”
However, Monarez missed the opportunity in her piece to explain in detail what she meant by this. Instead, she opted to discuss another important issue in America: distrust of the system. Specifically, Monarez wrote about the near-tragedy in early August at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters, when a man fired off hundreds of rounds because he distrusted COVID-19 vaccines.
While the event in August could have been a lot worse, it proves that the stakes are high and leaders in our government need to tighten their grip on the reins by eloquently and clearly explaining their actions. If they could do so, we could get back to arguing about policy.
Monarez’s concern about future handling of leadership relating to healthcare also heightens the notion that it doesn’t matter if you agree or not with Republicans or Democrats on this issue. What matters is what comes next.
While the road ahead at the CDC seems to appear steady with Jim O’Neill’s appointment by RFK Jr. to be the acting director of the CDC, it does appear that the problem with healthcare today is one that relates to public messaging.
Monarez and RFK Jr. have their own takes on whatever actually happened at the CDC that led to her departure. Above anything else, we need RFK Jr. to take a step back to regroup and examine what has been working and what hasn’t. He needs to do this because Americans voted for stable politics, not “he-said-she-said,” drama.
Michael Duke, GSB ‘26, is a business administration major from Scottsdale, Arizona.
