The Health Agenda
for the United States is set by the HHS strategic plan — which aligns with the administration’s goal of putting safe, legal abortion out of reach
See the top 3 ways you can take action right now to support reproductive health and rights!
Why It Matters
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) four-year strategic plan lays out the department’s priorities for the country through 2022. Traditionally, it has focused on ensuring access to health care.
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The 2018-2022 plan focuses on protecting the ability of employers and health care providers to deny patients health care services based on their personal beliefs.
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The current plan also describes life as beginning at conception, and it eliminates all mentions of health disparities faced by LGBTQ people.
Key Players
President of the United States
Elected to Office: 11-8-2016
Vice President of the United States
Elected to Office: 11-8-2016
Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Nominated by Trump: 11-13-2017
Former Special Assistant to the President, White House Domestic Policy Council
Resigned: 6-1-2019
Principal Advisor at the Office of Civil Rights, Former Deputy General Counsel (HHS)
Appointed to HHS: March 2017
Director of the Office of Civil Rights (HHS)
Appointed: March 2017
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs (HHS)
Appointed: 5-29-2018
Chief of Staff for the Assistant Secretary of Health (HHS)
Appointed to HHS: Early 2017
Senior Policy Advisor at the Office of Global Affairs; Former Senior Policy Advisor for the Assistant Secretary for Health (HHS)
Appointed: 6-6-2017“The argument that life begins at conception... could now form the basis of a new wave of attacks against publicly funded family planning services.”
Your Health Care Depends on the Government’s Health Agenda
HHS runs health coverage (including Medicaid and Medicare) for nearly 38% of the population, and it oversees health coverage for another 16% of the population (through Marketplace exchanges), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. HHS also impacts access to care for millions of people — mostly women — who rely on public health programs like Title X.
How you get your health care in the United States depends on what HHS prioritizes. That means the changes to the HHS strategic plan and the nation’s health care priorities affect everyone who needs health care — especially those who depend on HHS programs.
Background on the Health Agenda, As Laid Out in the HHS Strategic Plan
Pulling from the Anti-Abortion Movement
The four-year plan borrows language from the anti-abortion movement, signaling that the administration intends to roll back access to safe, legal abortion as well as birth control.
BustleThe administration stripped all mentions of LGBTQ health from the four-year plan. The erasure suggests that helping LGBTQ access health care isn’t a priority for the administration.
Human Rights CampaignThe current HHS strategic plan was led by Senior Policy Advisor Valerie Huber, a staunch anti-abortion, pro-abstinence advocate.
Rewire NewsHealth Secretary Alex Azar explicitly defended the decision for HHS to define life as beginning at conception, arguing "The mission of HHS is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, and this includes the unborn."
TIME MagazineUnlike past plans, the 2018-2022 plan promotes the ability of health care workers to deny care based on their personal beliefs. That means hospitals and doctors can refuse to provide services they personally object to, —including birth control, abortion, hormone therapy, and HPV vaccines.
POLITICOIt’s not only the HHS strategic plan that’s encouraging health care workers to deny care to patients. It’s also in new rules from the Trump administration. These “refusal policies” put health care providers’ personal beliefs ahead of a patient's rights and access to medical treatment.
Tracking Trump: Refusal PoliciesRelated Policies
The Title X Gag Rule
Title X
Planned Parenthood
Medicaid
Refusal Policies
Abortion Coverage
Birth Control Coverage
Sex Education
