“[T]hrowing more money at health care isn’t going to solve the problem – or it would’ve solved it already,“ Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. says in a video explaining the need to streamline HHS in accordance with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) goals.
In the video, Sec. Kennedy says he’s discovered a paradox at HHS – its budget and staff increased during the past four years of the Biden Administration, but Americans’ health has deteriorated:
- HHS’s budget increased 38%.
- HHS’s staff increased 17%.
- The rate of chronic disease and cancer “increased dramatically.”
- Americans’ average lifespan fell to the point that it’s now six years less than the average European’s.
- The U.S. ranks last among 40 developed nations in terms of health – but spends two-to-three times more per capita than those nations.
“We have the sickest nation in the world and we have the highest rate of chronic disease,” the HHS secretary says.
“As secretary, I now understand why all this money is not improving our health, Kennedy explains:
“HHS is a sprawling bureaucracy that encompasses literally hundreds of departments, committees and other offices.”
“I have some good news, though: as part of President Trump’s DOGE workforce reduction initiative, we’re going to streamline HHS and make our agency more efficient and more effective,” Sec. Kennedy says, detailing his department’s plans to cut costs, reduce duplication and increase efficiency.
We are streamlining HHS to make our agency more efficient and more effective. We will eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments, while preserving their core functions by merging them into a new organization called the Administration for a Healthy America or AHA. This… pic.twitter.com/BlQWUpK3u7
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 27, 2025