Forget about Kennedy, anti -scientists. Former FTC chairman provides a true model of the perfect HHS secretary.
Five months after Robert F. Kennedy -Junior was confirmed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department survived repeated convulsions and changes: federal staff were fired and fired and were fired and dismissed and dismissed and dismissed and dismissed Then re –grants canceled and recoverand members of the Advisory Tips fired Have their panels Eliminated straight. Critical meetings were detained or canceled straight. Throughout this, Kennedy and the relevant heads of the National Institute of Health (NIH) and nutrition and medicines (FDA) appeared on Internet videos that advertise these changes as necessary to “make America again healthy” (Maha).
HHS secretary does not usually play a big public role in government. It would be difficult for you to remember the last three HHS secretaries, not to mention the previous FDA and NIH executives. Except Political scandals Or emergencies that exalt figures such as Dr. Anthony Fuchi, HHS is historically regarded as a technocratic hippo. Its leaders should guarantee that scientists, health officials and regulators can do their work based on practices based on the facts, based on data. While each president (including Trump) used regulatory powers in HHS to find their specific program, they widely respected independent processes and appointed, which continue to function the agency. From this work HHS often went quietly and without fanfare. Alex Azar and Donna Shalala, who served in Trump and Clinton administration, both described their time in office Being non -partisan.
Unlike this, key members of HHS today cause Maha’s mandate in justification for their agenda –In the press -releaseIn the production of agencies podcast. videoAnd different speeches in the media. (It is worth noting that although all this happens, many HHS staff have been instructed by public health were fired.) All of them decorated through the lens need Restore trust In scientific and medical institutions in America and make the country healthier and happy. Status -Cho is characterized as an excessive influence of various corporate lobbies such as Big Pharma. Take the replacement of the Immunization Advisory Committee, a council that provides recommendations for the right to the vaccines. It will take years of checking to get on this board but Kennedy dismissed by its members for what he called Conflict of interest With pharmaceutical companies, the accusations that were unjustified. This step was challenged in court According to various American medical associations. Meanwhile, replacements in the Committee, many of them with history Anti-vaccine specieswasn’t their Conflict of interest revealed.
Americans by -tipped wide Trust scientistsBut it is not difficult to understand why Mach’s idea is attractive. Every day, people go to navigation on the American health care system, spending watches on the phone, leading costs and coverage when they have coverage at all. Millions remain in the workplace so they hate to retain medical care. Others are worried about the potentially loss of their Medicaid coverage that supports their family with complex health needs. People work for long hours, have less time on themselves, and, with increasing the cost of products, eat to survive rather than living. Maha Move is stuffed into this true disappointment and redirects it to things such as the skepticism of the vaccine and the extremes of natural lifestyle and diet (deviation Some medicines. drink raw milketc.).
The last two questions cover this disappointment. Take the preference of Medicare; While Medicare is a state health insurance program that guarantees those who are 65 years old, Medicare Advantage plans offer private companies and offer additional coverage. Then Medicare pays these companies for every person they receive. Medicare’s private companies have been abused to increase profits through patient care. Recently, Unitedhealthcare has appeared in the news of the outdated bonuses to reduce the transfer of hospitals for long -term residents enrolled in their Medicare Advantage, allowing them to earn more profits from Medicare Advantage plans without helping. According to a Trustee investigationAt least one long -term inhabitant suffered brain damage as a result of moving to the hospital. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal report It turned out that Medicare Advantage is charged by the government millions of veterans who have already been fully covered by VA.
Americans too pay much more For their prescription medicines than people in other countries. Part of this is related to the monopoly conducted by “PhaBMS managers” (PBMS). It is essentially companies that manage the plans for recipe medication. A The vast majority The PBM (80 percent) belongs to three companies – CVS (owned by Caremark), Cigna (owned by Express Scripts) and UnitedHealthcare (owned by Optumrx). These companies have encountered accusations of pricing and restrictions From the Federal Trade Commission; Extreme consolidation in this area is harmful to consumers and small pharmacies in moms and pop. Companies such as CVS, especially have an unfair advantage as they have both a pharmacy and UPM. States started taking action on the matter –Arkansas passed the law This prevents companies possessing both pharmacy and UBM, and Louisiana views the issue by doing the same (Meanwhile, He sued CVS). Experts urge Congress to take more daring actions and take legislation in smash these UPB.
Current Issue
Secretary Kennedy can take this legitimate issue with Big Pharma under a wider umbrella “healthcare is the right to which all people have to access.” He could pass against the greed of insurance companies that restrict life assistance to people and urge Congress to expand health. Wherever possible, it could use the HHS power to follow the companies engaged in questionable practice to increase profits through patients. Instead Voluntary agreements with food producers to get artificial dyes from food though there is Not much evidence To assume that it is harmful to start.
Given this, there is a core of truth in some of what RFK said. It is true that the FDA, like almost every part of the US government, suffers from a “rotary door” culture in which The best regulators and appointed Go there -here between the government and the branches they need to control. It is obviously harming trust and confidence that people have pharmaceuticals. But the dismissal in the FDA has only worsened this problem, and many employees are looking for work in the pharmaceutical industry, given uncertainty to be a federal employee. The way to solve this problem is to work with Congress to create more laws that limit the participation of the private industry for civil servants rather than dismantle critical committees such as ACIP, which is not in the FDA.
For the next HHS secretary, it will be tempting to return to the “apolitical” status -to return to work quietly, but the task with which the person will face will be a harbot. Health problems in the United States require rapid and specific action. Like the current leadership, Kennedy’s successor must be noticeable and open, but should try to restore the technocratic and scientific functions of these agencies, strengthening independence from political intervention. Fortunately, there is a model that harmonizes these two missions – when you find Lina Khan, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission under Joe Biden
During Khan’s stayFTC started flurry regulation-leaning garbage fees, moving through the pressing rules to cancel, blocking the mergers that would increase the prices for grocery products, challenging patents for reducing drug prices and related medical devices, prohibiting accessories that do not work Purchase- and a lot more. Khan enjoyed two -party support confirmed 69 senatorsAnd he often received praise to both Republicans and Democrats. All these steps were made with the support of FTC staff in their strict work, giving them the opportunity to do their jobs rather than interfere with their ability to do so.
Khan also became convinced that the public knew what the agency was planning. She took the first public meeting FTC for decades and made dozens of interviews, both on the usual platforms and on with stretch marks and comedy. She traveled across the country meet and hear from workers. And she always explained how she was trying to improve people’s lives, making sure they had more money in her pockets and could access health. Speaking in front of the Broaking Institute At the end of his stay, Khan noticed that people expressed that “the FTC work makes them feel that the government is finally fighting for them.”
Economic populism is what it takes in America to restore the trust and create the political capital required to pass transformation changes to improve human health. Leaders should not be afraid to call bad actors and follow those who have brought profits over patients. They must strengthen the laws to reduce the private influence on the decision -making of agencies, all when informing the public. This is not a politicization of science, but it creates a political environment in which science can work without interference, forcing people to feel that the government (and related agencies and committees) really have their backs.
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