Becerra is more than Biden’s Obamacare fix-it guy
California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has been one of the most visible defenders of the Affordable Care Act in recent years, repeatedly filing lawsuits against Republican efforts to dismantle it. That’s one reason Presidentelect Joe Biden tapped him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that administers the ACA for the federal government.
But HHS, which has the largest budget, does a lot more than just operate the ACA’s insurancebuying marketplaces in dozens of states. Among many other things, the department runs Medicare and Medicaid, oversees federally funded medical research through the National Institutes of Health, regulates pharmaceuticals through the Food and Drug Administration, fights infectious diseases through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and oversees federal mental health, substance abuse and child development programs.
And as deeply involved as Becerra has been with the ACA since his days in the House Democratic leadership, his background is in law and politics, not healthcare. Nor has Becerra shown himself to be a visionary leader or a wizard at crafting policy.
Still, Becerra is a good choice to lead HHS in this moment for a number of reasons, both practical and symbolic. Born in Sacramento to working-class parents who were raised in Mexico, Becerra would be the first Latino to lead HHS if he’s confirmed by the Senate. His background gives him valuable insight into underserved Americans So his selection sends a particularly important message at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting Latino and Black Americans, who are more likely to have underlying health conditions due to social and environmental factors.
His work defending the ACAposition Becerra well to advance Biden’s goal of not just repairing the damage done by the Trump administration, but building on the law to make coverage available and affordable to more Americans. Say goodbye to the legal contortions HHS went through trying to knock more people off Medicaid, deny contraceptive coverage to more women, promote junk insurance plans and let healthcare providers discriminate against LGBTQ Americans. Say hello to renewed efforts to promote the ACA’s subsidized
insurance coverage, persuade states to extend Medicaid to more low-income residents, narrow the racial gap in healthcare outcomes and create a public alternative to private health insurance plans.
Becerra has also shown an interest in holding down the underlying costs that are driving up health insurance premiums. This is a politically thorny issue because few elected officials want to battle doctors and hospitals over how much they charge for care.
Biden named a number of medical professionals and healthcare experts to join Becerra in the new administration, including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci as his chief medical advisor on COVID-19 and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, the founding director of Yale School of Medicine’s research program on health equity, to lead a new COVID-19 Equity Task Force. The appointments signal that the new administration’s policies will be based more on science, research and outcomes than the current one’s efforts. With Becerra, Biden is giving
someone who’s spent four years defending the protections for healthcare consumers the opportunity to build on them.