Idea Proposed by RFK Jr. Has Some in MAHA Scratching Their Heads

This doesn't look promising...

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This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.

Guest post by Robert McGreevy

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. surprised health and privacy experts when he announced June 24 that his agency would launch a massive advertising campaign to encourage Americans to use wearable health trackers.

“We’re about to launch one of the biggest advertising campaigns in HHS history to encourage Americans to use wearables,” he said in a budget hearing in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

“We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda, making America healthy again … My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years,” Kennedy Jr. concluded.

The statement rankled medical freedom and privacy advocates, many of whom previously championed Kennedy Jr.’s upstart independent presidential campaign.

“If RFK is promoting this it is because those are his political orders. He knows better,” Catherine Austin Fitts, a former Housing and Urban Development (HUD) official under George H.W. Bush, told the Daily Caller.

Fitts had appeared on Kennedy Jr.’s podcast and advocated broadly for his presidential campaign.

Others who supported Kennedy Jr. also criticized his wearables push.

“I share the concerns of many that the health freedom movement was effectively hijacked and is now being misdirected,” Jeremy R. Hammond, an independent journalist and fellow at The Libertarian Institute, told the Caller.

“I can understand certain individuals wishing to use wearables, but the idea that every American should be is lunacy and completely counter to the goals of the grassroots health freedom movement, which is not to be confused with “MAHA,'” Hammond said.

Kennedy Jr. appeared to walk back the importance of wearables as part of the MAHA agenda and his Take Back Your Health campaign in a Thursday statement to the Daily Caller.

“Let me be clear: the Take Back Your Health campaign is not about wearables. It’s about inspiring Americans to stop eating ultra-processed foods and reclaim control of their health. Ultra-processed foods are a driving force behind the chronic disease epidemic. Replacing them with real, whole foods is one of the most powerful ways to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy Jr. told the Caller.

“Wearables are one option for learning about the impact of your diet on your health, but we understand they are not for everyone because of concerns like cost and personal privacy,” Kennedy Jr. continued.

Kennedy Jr. has previously touted the technology as an alternate to pharmaceutical interventions.

“You know [Ozempic] is costing $1,300 a month; if you can achieve the same thing with an $80 wearable it’s a lot better for the American people,” he told the House in June.

Despite Kennedy Jr.’s insistence, apprehension toward wearable technologies remain for many.

Concerns range from the somewhat-mundane fear that insurance companies could be able to buy biometric data to price out consumers to the bone-chilling notion that Big Tech conglomerates could be able to use the data to implement a Chinese Communist Party-style social credit system.

Critics of the initiative fret that Palantir Technologies, a software company founded in part by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and reportedly partnered with numerous federal agencies, will be able to utilize broad swaths of biometric data collected by wearable technologies to impose control on Americans.

“You can’t escape Palantir — it’s creating a 360-degree surveillance grid that’s impossible to avoid,” privacy advocate and public speaker Csilla Brimer told the Daily Caller.

Palantir pessimists range broadly across the ideological spectrum, from Democratic lawmakers to staunch Trump allies like former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The company insists it is “not building a master database,” adding “Palantir is neither conducting nor enabling mass surveillance of American citizens. No amount of parroting of this false accusation will make it true.”

Still, concerned parties like Bannon have labeled the tech firm as a potential source of a surveillance state.

“[Y]ou’ve got this Palantir situation right now,” Bannon said in a June 6 episode of his “War Room” podcast. “That’s not what MAGA supported. We’re not for the surveillance state. We’re not gonna have it. We’re free men and free women, we believe in liberty and freedom.”

Palantir’s flagship data analytics platform “Foundry” is already being used by at least four government agencies, according to The New York Times.

“It will seamlessly connect government data with electronic identification systems, including eSIM registrations, mobile driving licenses, remote qualified e-signatures, e-health records, and electronic prescriptions. This network will also integrate with facial recognition technology at airports, social media KYC processes, and education/professional qualifications,” Brimer, who authored “Gamify or Die: Blockchain Gamification,” told the Caller.

Another privacy concern is the possibility of health data collected by wearables ending up in the hands of Kennedy Jr.’s longtime punching bag: the pharmaceutical industry.

“The odds of wearable data ending up with pharmaceutical corporations are high, given the increasing value of health data and the rising trend of data breaches in the healthcare sector,” Brimer told the Caller.

“In April 2025 alone, there was a 17.9% month-over-month increase in large healthcare data breaches, highlighting the vulnerability of personal health information,” she said.

In addition to data breach vulnerability, companies that collect biometric data become valued targets for acquisition by Big Pharma firms.

Pharma giant Regeneron announced it was beginning the acquisition of 23andMe, a personal genetics testing company which owns the largest repository of personal genomic data on Earth, in May. However, a nonprofit founded by former 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki eventually outbid Regeneron.

Despite Regeneron’s scrapping the acquisition, the episode serves as “an example of the privacy risks involved in letting a company collect your personal biometric data,” Hammond told the Caller.

Biometric data — fingerprints, facial recognition, iris scans and more — is becoming an increasingly precious commodity to the corporate world.

The data is “incredibly valuable to companies because … well you can’t change your face!” Brimer explained.

“Unlike passwords, which can be changed, biometric data is irreplaceable, making it a highly sought-after asset in the digital age,” Brimer concluded.

Advocates for the wearables push insist that the technology is a net positive.

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“By helping people understand how lifestyle choices impact their health in real time, WHOOP supports a broader shift toward prevention, resilience, and long-term wellness that aligns with the department’s mission,” a spokesperson for WHOOP, one of the field leaders in wearable tech, told the Caller.

WHOOP is part of a rapidly growing industry. Straits Research valued the wearable fitness tracker market at nearly $63 billion in 2024 and predicted it to be worth over $350 billion by 2033.

The money-making potential has sparked concerns that Kennedy Jr.’s push was prompted by those in his circle who could benefit financially.

“Casey Means, Calley Means, and Susan Monarez all have deep ties to the wearables industry. I think their conflicts of interest are disqualifying,” Toby Rogers, Ph.D. and fellow at Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research, told the Daily Caller.

Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), previously worked at Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). ARPA-H is a government research agency which, among other things, invested in a wide range of wearable and biometric technologies.

Calley Means, a close ally to Kennedy Jr. and special government employee at HHS, co-founded TruMed, a company which empowers people to use pre-tax dollars from health savings accounts on supplements and fitness equipment.

Dr. Casey Means, Trump’s nominee to become Surgeon General, is the co-f0under of Levels Health, a company which, among other things, provides insights on metabolic health primarily through glucose monitors.

Dr. Means left Levels and plans to fully divest her shares in the company, according to a source familiar with her involvement.

Even critics like Rogers, however, conceded that continuous glucose monitors like the ones Levels promotes are a net-positive, though Rogers still shared concerns about privacy.

“The data will be used to sell you all sorts of things and discriminate against those with underlying health conditions. Wearables (other than glucose monitors for diabetics and a few other devices) have everything to do with commerce and almost nothing to do with health. Chronic illness is being monetized and this is deeply troubling,” he told the Caller.

Kennedy Jr. himself acknowledged the privacy concerns associated with data collection.

“I do not—and will never—support collecting Americans’ data without their full, informed consent. I am fully aware of the dangers mass data collection poses to personal freedoms, and I do not advise anyone to purchase a wearable that does not provide ironclad privacy protections,” Kennedy Jr. concluded.

WHOOP insisted their privacy protections were indeed ironclad.

“We’ve built our platform with privacy and data security at its core,” a spokesperson told the Caller.

“Members have full control to delete their data or export their data if they like. As we’ve long said, WHOOP is looking to improve our members’ lives, not invade their lives.”

While many felt the consolidation of data reportedly being done by Palantir and other companies painted a grim picture, Brimer stressed that there are steps Americans can take to protect their privacy.

“We should prioritize developing privacy-respecting devices, including phones, IoT gadgets, and smartwatches. Custom drones and robotics are other areas where innovation can drive self-sovereignty and freedom. Join the movement for self-sovereignty and freedom by taking action and building these solutions,” she said, encouraging Americans to also educate themselves about existing privacy measures.

Copyright 2025 Daily Caller News Foundation

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