Amanda Seitz, Author at The Rapid City Post

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a news conference, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Bad diets, too many meds, no exercise: A look inside the latest ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report

August 15, 2025

A report promised by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to improve children’s health does not call for major changes to food or farming policies. A draft of the “Make America Healthy Again” strategy, obtained by The Associated Press, focuses on studying chronic diseases, air quality, diets, and prescription drug use. The report outlines four problem areas: poor diet, chemical exposure, lack of activity, and medication overuse. It calls for an awareness campaign to boost confidence in pesticides. The report has been submitted to President Trump, but the White House has not confirmed its final version.

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, left, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention listen. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Trump once hailed mRNA vaccines as a ‘medical miracle.’ Now RFK Jr. is halting advancement

August 6, 2025

President Donald Trump once hailed mRNA vaccines as a “miracle” for combating COVID-19. Now, his administration seems to have shifted its stance. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the cancellation of $500 million in mRNA development contracts with pharmaceutical companies. This decision effectively halts U.S.-backed efforts to use the technology for future pandemics, cancer treatments, or flu prevention. Trump had previously emphasized his role in pushing for the vaccines’ development, calling them a “medical miracle.” Despite their initial success, the administration’s current actions suggest a change in perspective.

FILE - A doctor performs an ultrasound scan on a pregnant woman at a hospital in Chicago, Aug. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford, File)

What we know about a new health data tracking system being announced by White House

July 30, 2025

President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new private health tracking system to help patients access their health records and monitor wellness is raising a host of privacy concerns. The system, a collaboration between the federal government and Big Tech, aims to allow seamless sharing of medical records among doctors, hospitals, and health apps. Patient advocates and ethicists worry about how health information could be used. Digital privacy advocates are skeptical about data security, fearing the monetization of sensitive health information.

FILE - The vacant Martin County General Hospital sits abandoned behind a chain since being closed in August of 2023 in Williamston, N.C., shown, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker, File)

How an empty North Carolina rural hospital explains a GOP senator’s vote against Trump’s tax bill

July 2, 2025

An empty hospital in Williamston, North Carolina, offers an evocative illustration of why Republican Sen. Thom Tillis would buck his party and its leaders to vote down President Trump’s signature domestic policy package. It’s one of a dozen hospitals that have closed in North Carolina over the last two decades. It’s a problem that hospital systems and health experts warn may only worsen if the “One Big Beautiful Act,” passes with its $1 trillion cuts to the Medicaid program and new restrictions on enrollment in the coverage. Across the country, 200 hospitals have shut down or reduced their services over the last two decades. Many of these closures occur in red states that have declined to expand Medicaid coverage, the health insurance program for the poorest Americans.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is flanked by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, left, and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, speaks to reporters after passage of the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Here’s how millions of people could lose health insurance if Trump’s tax bill becomes law

July 2, 2025

Roughly 11.8 million adults and kids will be at risk for losing health insurance if Republicans’ domestic policy package becomes a law. The losses won’t come all at once. The GOP’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” makes changes that will whittle away at enrollment through federal health care programs like Medicaid and Obamacare over many years in order to wrest nearly $1 trillion in savings from Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program over a decade. The bill is likely to reverse years of growing health insurance coverage rates, gains that have also been marked by record spending on federally-funded health care.

FILE - Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott speaks, Oct. 29, 2024, at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Daniel Kucin Jr., File)

Mayors, doctor groups sue over Trump’s efforts to restrict Obamacare enrollment

July 1, 2025

New Trump administration rules that give millions of people less time to sign up for the Affordable Care Act’s coverage, and bar some immigrants from buying the health care coverage, are facing a legal challenge from Democratic mayors. The rules, rolled out last month, reverse a Biden-era effort to expand access. The previous Democratic administration expanded the enrollment window for the coverage and permitted roughly 100,000 immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children to sign up for it. As many as 2 million people — nearly 10% — are expected to lose coverage from the health department’s new rules.

FILE - Kyleigh Thurman, one of the patients who filed a federal complaint against an emergency room for not treating her ectopic pregnancy, talks about her experience at her studio, Aug. 7, 2024, in Burnet County, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Texas hospital that discharged woman with doomed pregnancy violated the law, a federal inquiry finds

June 4, 2025

A federal investigation has found that a Texas hospital that repeatedly sent a woman who was bleeding and in pain home without ending her nonviable, life-threatening pregnancy violated the law. The newly released findings are a small victory for 36-year-old Kyleigh Thurman. She lost part of her reproductive system after being discharged without any help from her hometown hospital for her dangerous ectopic pregnancy. A new policy the Trump administration announced Tuesday has thrown into doubt the federal government’s oversight of hospitals that deny emergency abortions. The administration said Wednesday that women will receive care for miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, and medical emergencies in all 50 states.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as Education Secretary Linda McMahon listens during a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission Event in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

White House acknowledges problems in RFK Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report

May 29, 2025

The White House will fix errors in a much-anticipated federal government report spearheaded by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which decried America’s food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs. Kennedy’s wide-ranging “Make America Healthy Again” report, released last week, cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist. Asked about the report’s problems, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of Health and Human Services, on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

RFK Jr.’s ‘Make America Healthy Again’ report worries farmers, Republicans ahead of release

May 21, 2025

A much-anticipated White House report about childhood diseases has provoked a tug-of-war that’s pitted farmers and some prominent Republican lawmakers against health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his politically ambiguous “Make America Healthy Again” movement ahead of its release. Trump promised a sweeping review in within 100 days that would analyze the ramifications of U.S. lifestyles and food ingredients. The report, led by a so-called “MAHA Commission,” is expected to be released Thursday. Farmers and Republicans are nervous about what the report might say about glyphosate, the ingredient commonly used in pesticides sprayed on crops.

Amanda Seitz.