In his battle with doctors, RFK Jr.’s got GOP lawmakers on his side

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s time as health secretary is putting a lot of stress on Republicans’ ties with the medical community, which is starting to look like it’s about to break.

The GOP and doctors’ groups like the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have disagreed about changes to health policy, but Kennedy has pushed them to the left by calling them “pharma flunkeys” and “progressive ideologues.” Kennedy has been arguing with the groups lately about vaccine advice, care for transgender people, how to deal with the pandemic, and whether pregnant women who take Tylenol are putting their babies at risk for autism.

People have long thought that the groups are nonpartisan, and many of their members are conservative. But Republicans in Congress are piling on, which could put the medical profession at risk of becoming a Democratic-leaning interest organization. In turn, that would winnow doctors’ influence on policy problems when Republicans are in control, and compel major revisions in public health guidelines when Democrats are.

Some Republican lawmakers say that the doctors lost them when they moved left. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) stated of medical leaders in the health care system, “We kind of have a crisis of credibility.” Kennedy, he said, “is a product of that distrust.” He is a reaction to what a lot of people think: that they were being neglected.

Kennedy’s attacks, such as his consideration of limiting the AMA’s role in deciding how much Medicare pays doctors, have made the leaders of physician societies have to negotiate between a hostile government and many of their own members, who have called for stronger opposition to Kennedy’s plans to change the public health system.

Their criticism of the health secretary has shown that the public strongly disagrees with Kennedy’s policies and made the divide between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill even bigger.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a liver specialist and the head of the Senate health committee, is the best example.

He has been a major critic of Kennedy from the Republican Party and a friend of doctors’ interests. But he recently criticized the AMA for supporting care that affirms gender. This month, he also demanded that the group report revenues from its coding system, suggesting he might seek to upend a medical billing standard that brings in a big chunk of the group’s $500 million in annual revenue. Cassidy wrote to AMA President Bobby Mukkamala and said the association was “anti-science” and “anti-patient.” “When people know that there’s scrutiny, they sometimes behave differently,” Cassidy told POLITICO in explaining why he confronted the AMA. The senator’s request will be answered by the AMA.

The AMA did not want to talk about this subject. The group, which has more doctors than any other physician association, says that its beliefs are based on research and the agreement of all of America’s doctors.

This year, the AMA and many groups that represent specialists in medicine have repeatedly called out Kennedy for changing an outside panel of vaccine experts, downplaying the importance of Covid vaccination, and firing the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in August. Republicans have said that medical societies are too influenced by drug companies, but medical groups have alternatively said that the government is promoting pseudoscience.

The leaders of the group have said many times that they need to work with Kennedy, which is not the case for many regular AMA members. At a meeting this month hosted by the medical news site Stat, Mukkamala said he agrees with the administration on some policy concerns “completely.”

In July, the American Academy of Pediatrics sued Kennedy for what it says are illegal revisions to the guidelines on Covid vaccines. The government no longer suggests that people get the shots, but they are still available. Mark Del Monte, the CEO of the AAP, said in a statement that federal health officials are causing “confusion and chaos” about what is best for kids’ health.

He stated, “Families know they can trust the AAP to give them advice based on the best evidence, not politics.”

The American Academy of Family Physicians, which has also spoken out against Kennedy’s vaccine advice, said in a statement that its “bipartisan” work supports measures that “support a strong workforce and strengthen the relationship between doctors and patients.”

Kennedy has been asked to step down by several groups, including those that represent immunologists, internists, and public health professionals. Even so, Republican leaders in the states have supported Kennedy on the Covid vaccines.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called the Texas Medical Association’s advise a “brazen, flawed shift” after the state’s largest group of doctors informed doctors there they might look to sources other than the CDC for vaccine information.

Kennedy also went after the AMA in a report earlier this year about the problem of chronic disease in kids, saying that pediatricians shouldn’t give their own vaccine advice. He said the group was wrong to suggest that licensing boards punish doctors who spread false information. This became a hot topic during the pandemic when some people wanted to punish doctors who prescribed ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for Covid.

The research concluded, “Punishing doctors for not following government guidance makes them less likely to do or talk about nuanced risk-benefit analyses that don’t follow official guidelines, even when those analyses may be clinically appropriate.”

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, GOP doctors like as Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Roger Marshall of Kansas have become Kennedy’s most outspoken champions in his battle with their professional colleagues.

Marshall, an OB/GYN who has had a difficult relationship with the groups, told POLITICO, “A lot of these doctor associations are run by liberals.” “They’re run by people that failed being real doctors.” At a hearing in September, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the highest-ranking member of the Senate health committee, confronted Kennedy and accused him of turning patients against their doctors by assaulting physician groups. Kennedy heaped on further criticism.

“The American Heart Association has been co-opted by the food industry,” he replied. The AHA, which is run by cardiologists and others, turned down his claim.

Believe your doctor, not the physicians
Kennedy and the Republican lawmakers had different things to say about doctors.

While they have thrown doubt on the trustworthiness of the medical groups, they’ve continued to advise Americans to visit their own doctors.

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Inside the last stretch of New Many people who care about public health were worried that Kennedy would stop Americans from getting vaccines. Before teaming up with Trump, Kennedy was an anti-vaccine campaigner and has said that vaccines cause autism. Instead, he has advised Americans to talk to their doctors before getting them.

Joel White, a partner at Monument Advocacy and a lobbyist for health care, explained this difference.

“You know some of the psychology behind Congress, right? Everyone hates Congress, but they love their congressman. White said, “I hate the medical profession, but I love my doctor.”

At least on the last point, most Americans agree. The Washington Post and KFF, a health care think tank, did a poll in October that revealed that 85% of parents trust their child’s pediatrician when it comes to immunizations.

Cornyn told POLITICO afterward that he thought a personal doctor was still “the best person to provide that counsel and advice,” even though he thought the medical establishment was in a “crisis of credibility.”

Marshall, who has both praised and condemned doctors’ associations, stated that even while he has “animosity” toward them, he still “has an immense amount of trust in the doctors out there.”

Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/26/rfk-doctors-gop-ama-pediatricians-health-care-00622695

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