RFK Jr lays out plan to pool Americans' health records for federal research at MAHA event
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr told a MAHA Institute event he wants immunisation records, lab results and pharmacy data pooled from states, Medicare and Medicaid for researchers — a push STAT reports has already begun quietly in Nebraska.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has laid out an expansive vision for collecting Americans’ health data, telling an event hosted by the MAHA Institute on Monday that he wants to aggregate immunisation records, clinical data, laboratory results, pharmacy information and insurance claims into a single research resource.
Kennedy argued that user agreements give “institutions that control important health data the power to decide who can study it and what questions they’re allowed to ask, and that creates protectionism in science and it leads to the politicization of science.”
“A qualified researcher with legitimate hypotheses should not need permission from a gatekeeper to test it, particularly from an industry gatekeeper,” he said in remarks that began and ended with a standing ovation, according to STAT, which covered the event.
Kennedy said the data would come from state health information exchanges, electronic health records, laboratories, Medicare, Medicaid and commercial platforms such as HealthVerity. The stated aim is to help study the origins of chronic disease.
The push is already under way in at least one state. STAT reported that Nebraska’s health information exchange network, CyncHealth, is sharing patient data with the federal government, including for studies on vaccines and autism — a partnership that, like a second Nebraska tie-up with the National Institutes of Health, was never publicly announced, according to the report.
The plan is controversial. Jonathan Ketcham, a former White House health care economist, told the event that Arizona’s health information exchange data “cannot be used, even de-identified, for researcher grants without individual consent” from providers.
The speech comes as the MAHA movement holds a major summit in Washington on Tuesday, headlined by Kennedy and Vice President JD Vance.
Sources
- STAT, “Why RFK Jr. wants to make health data much more accessible”, 2026-09-29 — https://www.statnews.com/2026/09/29/why-maha-wants-to-make-health-data-much-more-accessible/
- The Guardian, “RFK Jr outlines expansive vision for collecting US health data at Maha event”, 2026-09-29 — https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/29/rfk-jr-collect-health-data
- Newsmax, “Vance, RFK Jr. to Headline MAHA Summit Amid Rift”, 2026-09-28 — https://www.newsmax.com/politics/jd-vance-rfk-jr-maha/2026/09/28/id/1271000
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