RFK Jr.'s muting of public comment in HHS rules draws pushback

Nearly one week after health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to cut the public out of his agency’s decisionmaking process, the Department of Health and Human Services has offered little clarity on the change. Patient groups and lawmakers are pushing back as the private sector girds itself for impact. 

On Thursday, a coalition of nearly two dozen patient advocacy groups made public a letter asking HHS to revoke its decision and include public participation the same way it has since 1971 — the year the little-known Richardson Waiver was adopted. The waiver made it HHS practice to issue public notices and solicit feedback on proposals that were previously excluded from such a process under the Administrative Procedure Act. Basically, HHS was choosing to involve the public more often than it had to under the law, experts say. 

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