Washington Post OPINION
I’ve seen the secretary’s effect on public health policy firsthand. Debra Houry is an emergency physician and was the chief medical officer and deputy director for program and science at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until last week.
Last week, I and two colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned after the White House’s firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez. In my role as the CDC’s chief medical officer as well as the agency’s lead last winter for the transition to the Trump administration, I have had a firsthand view of how public health policy has been affected by the arrival of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services. On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee will hear testimony from Kennedy on public health, vaccines and government accountability. The hearing is almost certain to stir controversy. But beyond the spectacle, his answers to three simple questions would tell Americans a great deal about where the country is heading. Will America be healthier?
Right now, 3 in 4 Americans live with at least one chronic condition, contributing to 90 percent of the nation’s .9 trillion in health care costs for people with chronic and mental health conditions. The CDC had been investing million to million per state annually to prevent and control chronic disease.