Baron’s landmark study explores the tensions confronting the MAHA movement and forecasts its future in the Trump coalition. The firm also developed an original dashboard tracking the ideological and commercial competition around MAHA, which will be publicly released in the coming weeks.

Introduction

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement – a dynamic coalition of conservatives, independents, former Democrats, parents, and many others rebelling against credentialed health care experts who have presided during a period of declining population health – has reached a crossroads. The movement currently identifies the pharmaceutical industry and food and agriculture industry as the actors most responsible for troubling morbidity and mortality trends among Americans, but remains divided on which – “Big Pharma” or “Big Food” – should be the top target for rebuke and reform. This internal MAHA debate has incentivized an external, zero-sum competition between the two industries to avoid blame. Beneath the industry dynamics and the policy-making debates lie deeper questions about the ultimate causes of America’s health crisis.

To inform the study, Baron leveraged over a decade of experience advising clients across the health care industry and conducted one-on-one conversations – on background or off the record – with more than 30 MAHA and conservative leaders, administration officials, congressional staff, and health care policy experts during the spring of 2025. The resulting analysis presented here captures the competing ideologies in and around MAHA, explores the tensions between its chief priorities, and forecasts the trajectory of the movement.

To download the full report: