The State of the Union is a moment for reflection, and to ask what truly has defined the President’s first year back in office. Headlines on immigration, national security, and the economy dominated the news, but it was a consequential year for health care as well, and one theme stood out: transparency.
For far too long, healthcare policy has started with a paternalistic premise: just trust us. Trust that the food on our grocery shelves is safe. Trust that every vaccine in the pediatric schedule is essential. Trust that if you make your payments every month, your insurance policy will protect you from financial ruin. Americans have been expected to comply, not question. That model which defined previous administrations led to record levels of obesity, skyrocketing rates of chronic disease, and medical bankruptcies driven by insurers that refuse to honor their commitments.
Americans have lost trust in the system. Transparency is how we begin to earn it back. In 2025, President Trump made substantial progress in this process.
When President Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act in January 2026, it wasn’t about swapping a carton in the cafeteria line. It was an acknowledgment that the focus on replacing real food, like whole milk, with more processed, low-fat substitutes are making our children sick. The science exposing this is not new. What is new is a policy and regulatory approach that is driven by this evidence rather than industry influence. We have known for decades that ultra-processed foods (UPFs) drive metabolic disease. Finally people in leadership positions are acknowledging this and reforming public policy to reflect it. The updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans is just one example in shifting to encourage the consumption of real foods and call out the harms caused by UPFs. Transparency in nutrition is not radical. It is the baseline information families need to make informed choices to stay healthy.
Also in January 2026, the U.S. childhood immunization schedule was updated to recommend 11 routine pediatric vaccines, down from 17. For too long, anything other than lockstep compliance with a bloated vaccine schedule was dismissed as ignorance. The new emphasis on just those vaccines that are necessary for individual and community health, and a push for true shared decision making, reflects a larger principle: parents must have the right to guide their children’s health care. Overstating the benefits of some vaccines, and using vaccine mandates to deny school attendance, which was the previous status quo, hurt children. A strong national approach to immunization is built on evidence and clarity, not coercion. Transparency about the roles of different vaccines, how some can be critically important while others much less necessary for most children, isn’t radical. It is about respecting parents.
That same respect is at the heart of the recently announced Great Healthcare Plan. It is baffling that the pillars of the plan—lowering drug prices and insurance premiums, holding insurance companies accountable, and maximizing price transparency—would ever require executive action, but that is where we currently find ourselves.
For years the most basic information has been withheld from consumers. The justifications for refusal have varied, but among the most offensive are claims that the information is simply “too complicated” for Americans to understand. Opacity and deference to industry are what have gotten us into the mess that is modern US health care.
Nearly 100 million Americans carry medical debt, and it remains the leading cause of bankruptcy in our country. Over one-third of Americans delay needed care due to fear of unknown costs. Despite spending more on health care than any other developed nation, we continue to experience worse health outcomes.
Demanding consumer transparency is the only path out.
In his State of the Union, President Trump should reiterate this commitment to transparency throughout all of health care and to empowering individual Americans and patients over industry Fat Cats.
What has changed this past year is not a rejection of expertise. It is a rejection of secrecy. Americans spend more on health care than any other country in the world, all while navigating a system that is confusing and often unusable when it is needed most. People do not need to be shielded from information in the name of stability. They deserve the data, the evidence, and the respect to be treated as partners in decisions about their own health. Transparency begins and ends with respecting the public enough to tell them the truth. That shift isn’t anti-science. It isn’t radical reform. It’s fundamentally American.
Dr. Monique Yohanan, MD, MPH, is a senior fellow for health policy at Independent Women.
Editor's Note: With President Trump back in the White House, the state of our Union is strong once again.
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