What MAHA rooters said about AI—and other hot topics—at this week’s ‘open data’ summit in Washington
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance headlined a flashy Make America Healthy Again event Tuesday.
The Trump administration duo also hosted a fireside chat to close out the proceedings.
The daylong happening, badged the “MAHA Open Data Summit,” was attended mainly by MAHA supporters. It took place at the Waldorf Astoria in the nation’s capital.
Here’s a sampling of noteworthy quotes from the summit, with contextualizing coverage linked to each speaker’s name.
‘If we don’t solve the problem of chronic disease, we’re not going to lower healthcare costs. We need [AI superintelligence] to do that, and we need to consolidate all of these datasets and make them readable.’
—HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
‘Of all the specific initiatives that you [Secretary Kennedy and HHS colleagues] have worked on effectively, the most important thing is that your team is willing to ask questions that people in government haven't been asking in a long time.’
‘If you think about healthcare today and what’s possible that wasn’t just a few years ago, clearly we have to make a transition from a break-it-and-fix-it system to one of prediction and early detection. An enormous transition has to take place.’
—Josh Ofman, CEO of biotechnology company GRAIL
‘There’s no correlation between the cost of healthcare and the quality you’re getting. We’ll use data and analytics to help members navigate their healthcare. If they want to go to a higher-cost environment, they can.’
—Wyatt Decker, UnitedHealth Group's chief physician for value-based care and innovation
‘We need more people using AI to better their health whether it’s diagnosis or daily routine. A lot of people on Medicaid are starting to use it. Building public trust, education in healthcare are the best—perfect examples where you can get great use cases and stories around AI.’
—Dan Brillman, director of Medicaid and CHIP
‘You have 4 million people in the U.S. who have what’s characterized as treatment-resistant depression. … Psychedelics have the potential to offer hope for those patients.’
—Kabir Nath, CEO of Compass Pathways
‘Reversing America’s chronic disease epidemic requires all hands on deck, from the grassroots to the boardroom. The MAHA Summit reflects the breadth of this movement, uniting parents, scientists, entrepreneurs, farmers and policymakers around that common goal. Together, our coalition can turn the tide on this crisis and Make America Healthy Again.’
—Alex Hardy, CEO of MAHA Holdings
Meanwhile the MAHA movement has its detractors.
Sample coverage of MAHA summit critics:
- ‘At MAHA Summit, a grassroots movement goes corporate: Federal officials and healthcare executives rubbed elbows at the ritzy gathering’
- ‘The summit’s tilt toward business—and its sponsorship by firms including Walmart and Grail, which has an application for a cancer screening blood test pending before the Food and Drug Administration—generated a backlash from some longtime Kennedy supporters.’
- ‘At MAHA Summit, RFK Jr.’s base asks if its champion is selling out: The second annual conference features Trump officials, tech titans, corporate sponsors and fading celebrities—but very little MAHA’
The summit was livestreamed and is now available for viewing as a five-hour video.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.