RFK Jr. Rolls Back Biden Policies, Touts Deregulatory Push (1)

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is rescinding Biden administration policy efforts on Covid-19 and gender identity bias protection as part of a regulatory overhaul he says will make it easier to pursue his Make America Healthy Again agenda.

“I have instructed HHS to launch the most sweeping deregulatory initiative in the history of the Department,” Kennedy said in a Tuesday Federal Register notice.

“We are eliminating bureaucratic red tape and refocusing on our core mission to Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy said.

The Federal Register Notice announces the rescission of four agency documents, three of which were issued by the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services. That includes a 2021 extension for designating certain materials scarce in order to prevent hoarding during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also on that list is a 2021 notice that the HHS would interpret Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act as prohibiting gender identity discrimination. The Biden administration later issued a related rule that was broadly challenged in court and is expected to be withdrawn by the Trump administration.

Josh Blackman, professor at the South Texas College of Law, noted that the US Supreme Court will soon make a decision in United States v. Skrmetti, a case over whether Tennessee can deny minors transgender medical treatment. Should Tennessee win, Blackman suspects “RFK will be on a much stronger footing to roll back the ACA policy.”

Biden administration guidelines on the administration of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment and a 2001 action on opioid treatment were likewise repealed.

Separately, the HHS took to the Federal Register to solicit input from the public “on how to dramatically deregulate across all areas the Department touches.”

That information request is more concerning than the policy rescission, said Liza Vertinsky, law professor at the University of Maryland, as it makes removing regulations “the goal rather than actually investigating how we might improve public health outcomes.”

“It is worth watching for changes in regulations that facilitate RFK’s efforts to interfere with vaccine research, reporting, testing, and otherwise pursue his anti-vaccine views and interests. There is no doubt that this will be a focal point of his regulatory agenda,” Vertinsky said.

Vertinsky also noted the importance of pushing back on the HHS’ framing of regulations being burdensome.

“There is no clear explanation of what the ‘burdens’ are or who they are being imposed on. Is it a burden on a company to be told that it can’t commit fraud, for example, and if so, is that a case where the cost to the fraudster might outweigh the benefit to the patient from accessing essential products at an affordable price?” Vertinsky said.

Also on Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration joined the HHS in issuing an information request.

In a statement announcing the RFI, FDA commissioner Marty Makary said that the agency’s effort “is about restoring common sense to health care regulation.”

“By cutting outdated red tape, we can lower costs, increase access to innovation, and let clinicians spend more time with patients—not paperwork. We welcome public input to help identify reforms that truly make a difference,” Makary said.

Carmel Shachar, professor at Harvard’s law school, said that “what we’re seeing now is a pebble coming before the avalanche,” given the Trump administration’s directive for agencies to identify problematic regulations—cited by the HHS Tuesday—and listof Supreme Court decisions that justify its rationale.

“It’s much more a furtherance of an agenda than just a regulatory spring cleaning,” Shachar said.