Rollback of health rules is blocked
In response to a lawsuit led by Santa Clara County, the Biden administration has blocked its predecessor’s lastminute orders that threatened federal health regulations on issues ranging from surgical care to labeling of food, medicines and vaccines.
The “Sunset Rule,” published by President Donald Trump’s administration on his last day in office, would require the Department of Health and Human Services to review all of its 18,000 regulations and determine whether they harm “a significant number of small entities.” The rule would not expressly repeal any regulations but would require the department to stop enforcing nearly all of them unless they could be reviewed and justified within five years — 1/20th the time it would normally take to review that many regulations, according to the lawsuit.
Santa Clara County and several advocacy groups, including the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the California Tribal Families Coalition, filed suit in federal court in San Jose on March 9, saying the rule was a “ticking time bomb” that lacked legal authority. Ten days later, and three days before the rule was due to take effect, President Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services put it on hold for at
least a year.
The potential expiration of numerous health regulations would cause confusion and uncertainty, with “serious implications for insurance markets, hospitals, physicians, and patients,” the department said. It said it would also have to divert resources away from the coronavirus pandemic to regulatory review.
The department is now headed by former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
Santa Clara County and its allies in the suit praised the new administration for “halting this unlawful rule that would eliminate thousands of critical health and food safety protections.”
Health and Human Services has a vast regulatory scope, including 139 million Americans enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid and 8.3 million insured under the Affordable Care Act. Its regulations include standards for medical care and insurance, pharmaceuticals, food safety and product labeling.
Weakening the department’s regulatory authority would harm “anyone who needs medical care, is affected by pandemics or disasters, or simply eats food,” the lawsuit said.
It said the Trump administration lacked authority to order the sweeping regulatory review and repeal, and had ignored its legal duty to consult with tribal councils on actions that affect them. Trump officials cut the usual 90day public comment period to 30 days, and received 530 comments, all but eight of them in opposition, the suit said.
In announcing the proposed change, the Trump administration said it had “no intention to rescind regulations that appropriately protect the public health or consumers.”