Dem
47
GOP
53
For over 50 years, the Dept. of HHS has had a policy of putting out rule changes for public comment before adopting them. This allows the secretary to see how the public feels about a new rule before it goes into effect. In the event of a very negative reaction, the secretary could withdraw or modify the rule before it goes into effect. However, HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. does not give a hoot what the public thinks of his new rules, so he has canceled the policy of putting out rules for public comment. After all, he knows what is best for the nation's health, not a bunch of people that might even include a doctor or two. After all, what do doctors know about health?
Lawrence Gostin, a professor of law at Georgetown University, has said that Kennedy intends to radically transform health policy and wants to insulate himself from the consequences. Gostin said Kennedy clearly wants to ram through major policy changes to Medicaid, NIH and other areas without anyone noticing. For example, Kennedy could impose work requirements on all Medicaid recipients without telling anyone in advance of cutting off benefits for not working. Or he could radically change how NIH funds research and do it on the sly. The president of the Council on Governmental Relations, which represents research universities, criticized the change, saying that it "flies in the face of the Trump Administration's professed mandate for greater transparency." He apparently doesn't understand what transparency means. It means you can look directly at something and not see it at all because it is transparent. Needless to say, this, too, will end up in John Roberts' lap eventually. (V)