by Melanie Evans; Originally published in Tradeoffs on April 10, 2025.
Emily Broad Leib was quoted in this article.
Two months on the job, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has plowed forward with mass firings, funding cuts and policy shifts. The most immediate effect is across state and local health agencies, where officials say they see new cracks in safeguards against diseases.
Last week, Tradeoffs brought you our interview with veteran health care journalist Julie Rovner of KFF Health News to help make sense of sweeping changes by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as chief of Health and Human Services.
This week, we’re hearing from state and local leaders in public health who must contend with Kennedy’s drastic cuts to spending and the federal workforce. Already, they say, the secretary’s abrupt actions are unraveling the nation’s defenses against disease outbreaks.
Listen to the whole episode.
