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Health Policy · HHS · Midterm Elections · White House
The White House is implementing a significant restructuring within the US Health and Human Services Department (HHS), installing four new senior counselors to exert tighter control over daily operations and communications.
Chris Klomp, currently Medicare head, will become chief counselor and de facto chief of staff, overseeing key policy initiatives like "most favored nation" drug pricing deals. Other appointments include John Brooks for CMS-related issues and Grace Graham and Kyle Diamantas for FDA-related matters.
These changes, confirmed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are strategically timed ahead of midterm elections to promote President Trump's health policies and ensure more coordinated messaging. The move also aims to address past coordination challenges and internal friction within HHS under Kennedy's leadership, including staff clashes and controversial FDA decisions.
While Kennedy frames the hires as accelerating the department's agenda, the underlying intent is to centralize power and ensure alignment with the White House's political objectives, particularly concerning Kennedy's controversial vaccine system overhaul.
The Trump administration, which has been skeptical of vaccines that prevent infections, is going all in on a new initiative to deploy novel vaccines against cancer.
