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RFK Jr. says Americans have the ‘sickest children in history.’ History says otherwise.

Poynter · Caleb McCullough · last updated

U.S. children fare worse than their peers in some wealthy countries, but centuries of health data contradict Kennedy’s sweeping claim

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said despite high healthcare spending, the U.S. is failing its children on an unprecedented level.

“This country pays two to three times what every developing nation in the world pays, and yet we have the sickest children in the history of the world,” Kennedy said, addressing the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 10. “We have the highest chronic disease burden ever recorded.”

 

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