A NEW FOCUS ON HEALTH
DOGE & The Department of Health & Human Services
Post-Covid, many people now distrust the health care bureaucracy, especially as represented in our federal government—the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Besides having intruded into our lives by restricting our rights and imposing vaccines, DHSS costs way too much money, $1.6 trillion per year.
DOGE saw the opportunity and recognized that the department has abandoned its mission to help improve health through prevention. Instead, they had too much focus on gaining power for themselves while doubling down on DEI and other political agendas. They also took under their wing the idea of gun control, which is NOT a public health issue.
As of today, DHSS has been pushed to streamline, which includes 10,000 eliminated jobs from public health agencies, early retirement and “Fork in the Road,” the agency will shrink from 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000. This will result in a savings of $1.8 billion/year for us taxpayers. But they didn’t stop there. In addition, there is a plan to streamline the functions of the bloated department, consolidating 28 divisions (some of which are redundant) into 15, including a new one—the Administration for a Healthy America—which is focused on preventive care, as mandated by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Basic functions, like HR, IT, Procurement and Policy are being centralized.
DOGE also cancelled 80 contracts which totaled $203.6MM, while ensuring that programs people rely on, such as Medicare and Medicaid, are protected. As an example of the stupidity of these contracts, one was for $2.1MM to create a senior advisory position in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kennedy wants the focus to be on the health of American citizens, not the world.
Food
The failures of protecting our food go way back. Many of us older folks can remember the “Food Pyramid,” which emphasized limiting fat and protein and having more carbs. We know this is wrong, but then, it was pushed by farms and manufacturers—Big Soy, Big Corn and Big Sugar.
Secretary Kennedy is prioritizing efforts to end chronic health problems by focusing on healthy food, clean water and getting rid of toxic chemicals in our environment. “We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said. “This Department will do more – a lot more – at a lower cost to the taxpayer.” He also doesn’t want the government controlling what we eat, but instead, providing better options to more people.
Thomas Massey, R-KY, is also working to enact the Prime Act, which would let local farmers use local processing plants instead of the Big Three processors.
Covid
The way Covid was handled under Fauci and Collins, including the funding that went to China to create the virus, has to end. We were repeatedly lied to and information we needed suppressed, and power went to the heads of all these agencies. Never again. Trust is at zero for most of us. To this end, Kennedy has appointed Jay Bhattacharya to run NIH (replacing Collins). Bhattacharya was persecuted and harassed by DHSS bureaucrats for simply recommending a rational, science-based approach to managing the disease. If he had been in charge, we would have had viable, inexpensive treatments available to everyone. Few would have had long-term intubation, which eventually killed many. Schools would have been reopened quickly. If there is a next time, we can be assured it won’t be the government-managed disaster Covid was.
Going Forward
“Over time, bureaucracies like HHS become wasteful and inefficient even when most of their staff are dedicated and competent civil servants,” Secretary Kennedy said. “This overhaul will be a win-win for taxpayers and for those that HHS serves. That’s the entire American public, because our goal is to Make America Healthy Again.”
