Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • ESG: THE NEW IMPERATIVE
Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • COVID-19
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Transformation
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Digital Health
  • Insights
    • ACA 10 Years After
    • Best Practices
    • Special Reports
    • Innovations
  • Data/Lists
    • Rankings/Lists
    • Interactive Databases
    • Data Points
  • Op-Ed
    • Bold Moves
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • Vital Signs Blog
    • From the Editor
  • Awards
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top 25 Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
    • Women in Healthcare
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
    • - Leaders to Watch
    • - Luminaries
    • - Top 25 Women Leaders
    • - Women to Watch
  • Events
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Transformation Summit
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - Strategic Marketing
    • - Virtual Health
  • Listen
    • Podcast - Next Up
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Video Series - The Check Up
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
  • MORE +
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Newsletters
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Government
June 21, 2018 01:00 AM

White House proposes HHS restructuring and renaming to consolidate welfare programs

Harris Meyer
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    As part of a sweeping reorganization to make the federal government leaner, the White House proposed Thursday to move all major public-assistance programs including food stamps into HHS and renaming the bulked-up agency the Department of Health and Public Welfare.

    The plan, spearheaded by Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney, also would create a new Council on Public Assistance, overseen by the renamed HHS, to restructure and coordinate welfare and workforce issues across all federal agencies.

    The 132-page plan, titled Delivering Government Solutions in the 21st Century, said the council would become the executive branch's chief welfare policymaking vehicle and "would ensure that federal public assistance programs are well aligned and focused on promoting opportunity and economic mobility."

    In a written statement, Mulvaney called it an effort to "drain the swamp," adding that the federal government is "bloated, opaque and inefficient."

    The reorganization is part of the Trump administration's effort, backed by the Heritage Foundation and other conservative groups, to link popular means-tested entitlement programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to cash assistance programs pejoratively referred to as welfare.

    Moving SNAP into the renamed HHS could facilitate the administration's effort to make work or "community-engagement" requirements consistent across all public assistance programs. Several states have proposed adding work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, though Kentucky's program has been challenged in court.

    The proposed Council on Public Assistance would design uniform work requirements across all public assistance programs and work to eliminate barriers at the federal, state and local levels to getting beneficiaries to work.

    Andy Slavitt, who headed the CMS during the Obama administration, questioned the goals behind the plan. "It always makes sense to unite programs around beneficiaries to improve service delivery," he said. "But that's not what's going on here. The intent is to put all these programs in one place and shrink them."

    That would be consistent with White House and House Republican budget proposals to cut Medicaid spending by nearly $1.5 trillion over the next decade, Slavitt added.

    The reorganization plan also seeks to "transform" the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps into "a leaner and more efficient organization that is better prepared to respond to public health emergencies and provide vital health services." It would reduce the size of the corps and build a reserve corps to respond to public health emergencies.

    The overall reorganization touches nearly every cabinet department. It would merge the Departments of Education and Labor. And it would shift the food safety functions of the Food and Drug Administration to the Department of Agriculture.

    The plan would require congressional approval, which is far from certain. It would mean reallocating congressional committees' oversight responsibilities. For instance, the House Agriculture Committee would oversee a greatly shrunken Department of Agriculture, where the $70 billion SNAP program comprises most of its budget.

    In an interview, former New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg said that reorganizing and downsizing the federal cabinet structure is long overdue, and that he likes the idea of moving SNAP into HHS. But he said the Trump administration will have a "very hard time" selling the plan to Congress, given the unwillingness of lawmakers who head appropriations committee to forfeit any political control.

    "It's almost impossible to move these agencies around because the turf issues are so acute," Gregg said. "And this administration has lost most of its political capital up there."

    HHS was last restructured during the Carter administration, when the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was split into HHS and the new Department of Education, in recognition of the old department's large scope of work. Since then, Republicans long have sought unsuccessfully to eliminate the Education Department.

    Slavitt said consolidating more healthcare and public assistance programs within the renamed HHS could make it easier for the Trump administration to reduce spending on them. "If the money is in different pockets and is overseen by different committees, the administration sees it as offering too many 'loopholes' to get services to people," he said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    Ezike 800.jpg
    Former Illinois health chief Ezike under scrutiny by state's top ethics investigator
    AHRQ Director Robert Valdez in front of American flag
    Q&A: AHRQ chief aims to help communities improve their health systems
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • COVID-19
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Digital Health
    • Insights
      • ACA 10 Years After
      • Best Practices
      • Special Reports
      • Innovations
    • Data/Lists
      • Rankings/Lists
      • Interactive Databases
      • Data Points
    • Op-Ed
      • Bold Moves
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • Vital Signs Blog
      • From the Editor
    • Awards
      • Nominate/Eligibility
      • 100 Most Influential People
      • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
      • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
      • Excellence in Governance
      • Health Care Hall of Fame
      • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
      • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
      • Top 25 Innovators
      • Diversity in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
        • - Leaders to Watch
      • Women in Healthcare
        • - Luminaries
        • - Top 25 Women Leaders
        • - Women to Watch
    • Events
      • Conferences
        • Transformation Summit
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Leadership Symposium
      • Galas
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Supply Chain Revenue Cycle
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - Strategic Marketing
        • - Virtual Health
      • Webinars
      • Custom Media Event: ESG Summit
    • Listen
      • Podcast - Next Up
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Video Series - The Check Up
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • MORE +
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Newsletters
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing