Washington D.C. – Trump health secretary RFK Jr. is rolling out his latest impractical and unaffordable pet project: a new anti-antidepressant campaign that includes pushing “clinicians to “de-prescribe” Medicare patients from the drugs by instead prescribing “non-pharmacological” services such as therapy.” NOTUS reports “the initiative will also include training for clinicians on the risks of psychiatric medications and how to “taper” patients off the drugs slowly to avoid severe withdrawal symptoms, though the incidence rate of those symptoms is unclear. … The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will offer the training beginning this summer, Kennedy said.”
While Kennedy dubiously claims to be a subject matter expert — “I happen to be an actual expert on this because I was addicted to heroin for 14 years” – the health secretary conveniently neglects to mention major barriers to therapy access and affordability under his plan.
While RFK Jr.’s HHS makes no mention of how they intend to incentivize therapists to be in-network with private insurance and Medicare, major studies and surveys have shown that 82.7% of psychotherapists did not accept any public insurance like Medicare while more than one-third of practicing psychologists do not accept private insurance.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s FY2027 budget plan seeks to gut over half a billion dollars from mental health programs while eliminating the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and sweeping its remnants into a new body called the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).
“Like most of Secretary Kennedy’s initiatives, this one was clearly not thought out beyond trying to score some quick political points with increasingly disappointed MAHA activists,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “How serious can RFK Jr.’s new clinician training program really be under a department he’s trying to shutter? Amidst an over half billion dollar cut to mental health resources in the Trump budget, these harmful cuts to pay for Trump’s ballroom will likely make access problems for seniors even worse when so few therapists already feel little incentive to accept Medicare or private insurance.”
###