STAT+: At MAHA Summit, a grassroots movement goes corporate

The 2025 MAHA Summit in Washington, D.C., marked a change for the Make America Healthy Again movement, according to STAT. The movement had coalesced around mistrust of the health system and corporate influence, but at the summit, industry leaders promoted their work under the MAHA banner — from insurers controlling costs to pharma companies developing the next breakthrough. Federal officials and health care executives attended the ritzy gathering, with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Vice President JD Vance appearing on stage.

In a morning panel about health care affordability, executives at two of the nation's largest insurers, UnitedHealth Group and Elevance, highlighted their artificial intelligence initiatives while emphasizing the need for prior authorization. Prior authorization is an administrative hurdle known to infuriate patients and providers alike.

The summit's makeup suggests the MAHA movement is shifting from an insurgent, anti-corporate posture toward one where corporate players use its brand and platform to advance their own priorities, a contrast that STAT frames as the grassroots movement going corporate.