JD Vance Courts Health Movement as He Eyes 2028 Presidential Run

Vice President JD Vance is trying to build a strong connection with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement. He is seen as the top Republican candidate for the 2028 presidential election. Vance showed up at the Maha summit in Washington, D.C., this week to make friends with health activists and officials. But the Maha movement itself is starting to split apart, with some members saying it has moved away from everyday people and toward big corporations.

At the summit, Vance laughed and joked with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads the Maha movement and runs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They talked about internet memes and unusual diets, like eating only meat and fermented foods. Vance also took a swipe at Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying Rubio 'doesn't have a great poker face' and makes great meme material. Vance even described a group text chain with cabinet members where they share funny images before they spread online.

Vance used the event to talk about his work fighting fraud in government health programs like Medicaid and Medicare. He claimed his team had found 'close to $250 billion in fraud' since he began leading an anti-fraud task force. He also blamed immigrants, especially undocumented ones, for taking benefits they are not supposed to receive. However, the government has not released many details to back up these claims, and experts say there is little proof that undocumented people are receiving Medicare benefits.

Kennedy spoke at the event about how the U.S. health care system costs too much compared to countries in Europe. He also praised artificial intelligence, or AI, saying it could give patients better medical advice than most doctors. About one in three Americans already use AI for health information, but studies show AI chatbots give wrong answers about 25 percent of the time. Kennedy also suggested that AI could help people question advice from health experts, including guidance on masks, vaccines, and social distancing.

Not everyone was happy with how the summit was run. The event featured big companies like UnitedHealth, Walmart, and Anthropic as sponsors. Companies that paid $300,000 were offered speaking spots and a private dinner with Kennedy and Mehmet Oz, who runs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Art Caplan, a professor at NYU's medical school, called the summit 'a giant conflict of interest' and said it looked like a 'pay to play' event where companies could buy access to powerful government officials.

Many original Maha supporters felt left out. Kelly Ryerson, a well-known health activist, said the lineup of speakers did not 'reflect the issues that birthed the original Maha movement.' Doctor Mary Talley Bowden asked on social media, 'Why are they excluding our voices?' Robert Malone, another early Maha supporter, wrote that the movement had been 'captured' by the very corporate interests it once fought against. These reactions show how deeply divided the Maha movement has become.

Despite the cracks in Maha, Vance seems to believe it can still help him politically. Professor Caplan said Vance is 'making a calculation' — he wants to win over Maha supporters the same way Donald Trump did in 2024. Surveys show that more Americans view both Trump and Vance unfavorably than favorably right now. Still, even a portion of Maha's devoted followers could give Vance a big boost in a future presidential race.

Kennedy himself is not very popular at the moment. A new survey found that fewer than one in four Americans — just 23 percent — view Kennedy favorably. A separate survey found that 68 percent of rural Maha supporters said Trump's health policies had a 'negative effect or no impact' on health in their communities. These numbers suggest that both Vance and Kennedy face real challenges in convincing voters that the Maha movement is working for them.