Biden's HHS Nominee Xavier Becerra Is Known for Backing ACA

by Peter Johnson

 

Health care insiders praised President-elect Joe Biden's decision to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, to be the next HHS secretary. Though he is not a specialist in health care, experts say Becerra brings relevant expertise to HHS.

Since his appointment in 2016 as California's attorney general, Becerra defended the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from a legal challenge in the case now known as California v. Texas. In 2018, Becerra sued California nonprofit hospital giant Sutter Health over allegations of anticompetitive business practices and high prices for care.

Becerra's nomination was generally well-received by health care insiders, including payer groups.

Citi analyst Ralph Giacobbe wrote that the nomination lends credence to the consensus that the Biden administration's main health care policy goal will be bolstering the ACA.

"We view Becerra's role in leading the Democratic states in defending the ACA in the ongoing lawsuit as an incremental signal of the Biden administration's continued support of the ACA and continue to expect the new administration to be focused on increasing coverage through building on the ACA and leveraging existing platforms to expand upon the Medicaid program and modernize the Exchanges," Giacobbe opined in a Dec. 7 investor note.

Dan Mendelson, founder of consultancy Avalere Health, says that Becerra's relationships on Capitol Hill will be helpful to the new administration.

"If they're going to make progress on the uninsured and passing significant COVID relief, they're going to need to have strong relationships with legislators, and they're going to need to figure out what is the art of the possible," Mendelson says. "I think he'll be very good at that. Having political experience really helps."

Becerra's role in the Sutter Health suit could indicate that the administration will take an aggressive approach to combatting hospital consolidation, according to Loren Adler, associate director of the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy.

However, "the HHS secretary does not have complete control over health policy in the United States," Mendelson notes. "With that said, there's been a real laxity in federal enforcement around antitrust in the provider space. It's of concern to a lot of plans, and a lot of [regional] markets are becoming monopolies or duopolies. That's something that I do think [Becerra] will touch."

 

From Health Plan Weekly