Health Secretary
🛑 ALL INFORMATION CLICK HERE 👈🏻👈🏻👈🏻
Health Secretary
Menu
About HHS
Programs & Services
Grants & Contracts
Laws & Regulations
About HHS
Programs & Services
Grants & Contracts
Laws & Regulations
Text Resize
A
A
A
Print
Share
Left Nav: /about
HHS Family of Agencies has sub items, about HHS Family of Agencies
HHS Agencies & Offices
Regional Offices
Advisory Committees, Task Forces & Initiatives
Organizational Chart
Leadership
Budget & Performance has sub items, about Budget & Performance
FY 2023 Budget in Brief
FY 2023 Annual Performance Plan and Report
FY 2022 Contingency Staffing Plan
FY 2022 Budget in Brief
FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and Report
FY 2021 Contingency Staffing Plan
FY 2021 Budget in Brief
FY 2021 Annual Performance Plan and Report
FY 2020 Contingency Staffing Plan
FY 2020 Budget in Brief
FY 2020 Annual Performance Report
FY 2019 Budget in Brief
FY 2019 Contingency Staffing Plan
FY 2019 Annual Performance Report
FY 2018 Budget in Brief
FY 2018 Contingency Staffing Plan
Strategic Plan FY 2022 - 2026 has sub items, about Strategic Plan FY 2022 - 2026
Message from the Secretary
Introduction: About HHS
Overview: Strategic Plan FY 2022 - 2026
Strategic Goal 1: Protect and Strengthen Equitable Access to High Quality and Affordable Healthcare
Strategic Goal 2: Safeguard and Improve National and Global Health Conditions and Outcomes
Strategic Goal 3: Strengthen Social Well-Being, Equity, and Economic Resilience
Strategic Goal 4: Restore Trust and Accelerate Advancements in Science and Research for All
Strategic Goal 5: Advance Strategic Management to Build Trust, Transparency, and Accountability
Appendix: Plan Updates
Strategic Plan FY 2018 - 2022
News
I Am HHS
Careers
Department of Health and Human Services
How We're Building a Healthier America
Content created by Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA) Content last reviewed April 26, 2022
Contact HHS
Careers
HHS FAQs
Nondiscrimination Notice
HHS Archive
Accessibility
Privacy Policy
Viewers & Players
Budget/Performance
Guidance Portal
Inspector General
EEO/No Fear Act
FOIA
The White House
USA.gov
Vulnerability Disclosure Policy
Home
> About
> Leadership
> Xavier Becerra
The top five priorities at HHS are:
HHS has taken critical steps to improve the health and well-being of all Americans. Read the snapshot to learn about our progress and the path forward.
Xavier Becerra is the 25th Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the first Latino to hold the office in the history of the United States. As Secretary, he will carry out President Biden's vision to build a healthy America, and his work will focus on ensuring that all Americans have health security and access to healthcare.
Throughout his career, the Secretary has made it his priority to ensure that Americans have access to the affordable healthcare they need to survive and thrive - from his early days as a legal advocate representing individuals with mental illness, to his role as the Attorney General of the state of California.
Secretary Becerra served 12 terms in Congress as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. During his tenure, he was the first Latino to serve as a member of the powerful Committee on Ways and Means, he served as Chairman of his party's caucus, and as the Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health.
For over two decades in Congress, Secretary Becerra worked so that every family had the assurance of care that his own family had when he was growing up. As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Secretary Becerra introduced legislation -- the Medicare Savings Programs Improvement Act of 2007 -- that expanded cost-sharing subsidies for low-income seniors who receive both Medicare and Medicaid benefits by increasing the amount of resources they could receive. He championed provisions of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 that required physicians who perform imaging to be accredited and trained to ensure patient safety. And he was one of the original cosponsors of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) which strengthened Medicare and lowered costs for seniors.
As Attorney General of the state of California, Secretary Becerra helped to promote competition by taking on a number of pharmaceutical companies that restricted competition through "pay-for-delay" schemes, held several companies accountable for legal violations for not protecting patients' health information, and took action early in the pandemic to keep Californians safe by using his authority to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19, secure key safeguards for frontline health care workers' rights, and take on fraudsters trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic. In addition, he cracked down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, acted to combat the opioid crisis, including holding drug makers accountable, won an unprecedented $575 million antitrust settlement against one of the largest health systems in California, and he led the three-year federal court fight to save the ACA and with it, the protections of the 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions.
Born in Sacramento Secretary Becerra is the son of working-class parents. He was the first in his family to receive a four-year degree, earning his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School. His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico and immigrated to the United States after marrying his father, a day laborer turned construction worker. He is married to Dr. Carolina Reyes, and he is proud of his three daughters: Clarisa, Olivia and Natalia, and son-in-law Ivan.
Receive the latest updates from the Secretary, Blogs, and News Releases.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20201
Toll Free Call Center: 1-877-696-6775
Join Our Community
Subscribe to MyPinkNews
My Profile
Register
Log in
Log Out
Login
Register
Log Out
Support Us
Join Our Community
Subscribe to MyPinkNews
UK
US
World
UK
New health secretary Thérèse Coffey defends her anti-abortion views
UK
US
World
© 2022 PinkNews ⦁ All Rights Reserved
Health secretary and deputy prime minister Therese Coffey arrives at 10 Downing Street on 7 September, 2022 ahead of a meeting of the government's newly appointed cabinet. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty)
New health secretary Thérèse Coffey has promised she won’t try to undermine abortion rights in the UK.
Coffey was named deputy prime minister and health secretary in Liz Truss’ new cabinet announced on Tuesday night (6 September).
The new health secretary has repeatedly opposed LGBTQ+ and abortion rights citing her Catholic faith. She voted against same-sex marriage, the extension of same-sex marriage and abortion to Northern Ireland, making at-home abortion pills permanently available post-pandemic, and inclusive education.
But speaking to Sky News on Wednesday (7 September), Coffey said while she would “prefer that people didn’t have abortions… I am not going to condemn people that do”.
She added: “I’m conscious I have voted against abortion laws.
“What I will say is I’m a complete democrat and that is done. It’s not that I’m seeking to undo any aspects of abortion laws.”
Also on Wednesday, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) issued a statement describing Coffey’s abortion stance as “deeply concerning”.
Clare Murphy, chief executive of BPAS, told the BBC : “To have a health secretary who would place their personal beliefs above expert clinical guidance is deeply concerning.”
In the wake of the overturning of Roe v Wade in the US, Murphy said “anti-abortion protest activity is escalating, with women and clinic staff facing intimidation while seeking to access and provide an NHS-funded service”, and that in this climate, it was essential for the UK to be “a beacon for women’s reproductive choice”.
“Every week, women with complex medical conditions are forced to continue pregnancies against their will because of a lack of appointments within NHS hospital settings,” she said.
“We need a health secretary who wants to improve access to a medical procedure that one in three women will need in their lifetime, not impose further restrictions.”
Reacting to the statement in an appearance on BBC Breakfast, Coffey said: “Access to abortion is set out – it’s already available right across the United Kingdom. I have responsibility for England, and that access will continue.”
On her opposition to at-home abortion pills, she again described herself as “a democrat” and added: “The vote was won in parliament by people who wanted to make that permanent. There are many other people who are exceptionally pro-abortion who did not want that to happen.
“However parliament voted, it’s happened, and the regulations are already in place.”
Celebs you didn’t know have an LGBT sibling
Although host Jon Kay continued to push her, she said her “focus is on ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors and dentists”, before announcing she needed to leave.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Thérèse Coffey was also asked about funding for health and social care under Liz Truss’ government.
Coffey insisted former chancellor Rishi Sunak’s proposed national insurance increase would not go ahead, but that the same amount would be invested from general taxation.
“We will continue to invest the same amount into health and social care that we would… through the levy,” she said.
Suggesting she would support greater use of private healthcare providers to clear the NHS backlog, she added: “I think we just need to use every capacity that we can, and we already use the independent sector in order to help patients get the operations that they need today.”
Patrick Kelleher
-
September 7, 2022
Chantelle Billson
-
September 7, 2022
Amelia Hansford
-
September 7, 2022
Josh Milton
-
September 7, 2022
Josh Milton
-
September 7, 2022
Emily Chudy
-
September 7, 2022
Lily Wakefield
-
September 7, 2022
Patrick Kelleher
-
September 7, 2022
September 6, 2022 8:34 pm (Updated September 7, 2022 8:33 am)
Thérèse Coffey is – as she herself would admit – one of the least well-known members of the Cabinet.
But she is now one of the most powerful members of the Government.
Ms Coffey has been appointed Health Secretary , taking on the difficult task of dealing with the crisis-hit NHS and finding a lasting solution for social care.
She has also been made Deputy Prime Minister – the first woman to have the job – ranking second to Liz Truss and giving her a powerful role at the heart of government.
The new Prime Minister listed the NHS as one of her top three priorities , alongside the economy and energy, underscoring her decision to install one of her closest political allies as Health Secretary.
Those who have worked alongside Ms Coffey say she is “meticulous” and managerial rather than driven by any ideological political passion, and is likely to bring an accountant’s eye to the health budget.
Whitehall sources expect her to arrive at the Department of Health and Social Care with a mission to “fix” the NHS, and will focus on driving out waste, finding value for money and delivery – raising the prospect of cuts to its budget.
Ms Coffey was born in Billinge, Lancashire, but grew up in Liverpool before being educated at Oxford and gaining a PhD in chemistry from University College London.
One of her first jobs was as an accountant at the BBC. She was first elected MP for Suffolk Coastal in 2010, in the same intake as Ms Truss, and the two have been close friends since.
Ms Coffey was a member of the Commons culture, media and sport committee during the phone hacking scandal of 2011.
The committee investigated allegations of phone hacking at News International, memorably grilling Rupert Murdoch. Ms Coffey was not one of the more prominent members, but the committee played a key role in laying the groundwork for the Leveson Inquiry that followed.
A source who worked with her on the committee said Ms Coffey did her homework with inquiries and witnesses, but added: “She was not particularly courageous. Nothing became a cause for her, nothing inflamed her passions. But she was meticulous. She turned up to the meetings, put the questions, but never pushed hard on anything.”
Ms Coffey first became a member of the Government, under David Cameron, as an assistant whip in 2014.
Her rise through the ministerial ranks has been slow and steady. A politician who knows her well said she is “habitually loyal, and without fuss” – making her ideal, perhaps, as Ms Truss’ number two.
Another source said: “She rose to the top without shaking the tree.”
She is known to enjoy a drink, karaoke and a cigar at parties, but keeps her private life studiously private.
Ms Coffey joined the Cabinet for the first time in September 2019, as Work and Pensions Secretary under Boris Jo
The Naked And Famous Young Blood
Public High Heels Porn
Naked Teens Dancing