Are Americans actually becoming less healthy? That’s an idea that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been repeating for a while now. While there are some nuggets of truth in that – on the whole, American life expectancy has gone up a lot in Kennedy’s lifetime. So why does a backward-looking narrative serve his agenda? And what would actually move the needle forward on improving Americans’ health? Brittany is joined by NPR health policy correspondent Selena Simmons-Duffin to get into the nuances of what “healthy” means. Want more about modern health? Check out these episodes:<a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/16/nx-s1-5677307/the-difference-between-losing-weight-being-healthy"target="_blank" >The difference between losing weight & being "healthy" </a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/12/nx-s1-5606033/exercise-is-more-important-than-ever"target="_blank" >Exercise is more important than ever</a><a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/01/21/nx-s1-5683324/sex-is-pleasurable-it-should-feel-safe-too"target="_blank" >Sex is pleasurable. It should feel safe too.</a> Support Public Media. <a href="https://plus.npr.org/"target="_blank" >Join NPR Plus.</a> Follow Brittany on Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/bmluse/?hl=en"target="_blank" >@bmluse</a> For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at <a href="http://npr.org/podclub"target="_blank" >npr.org/podclub</a>.  To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below: See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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