Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra had a strong message for reporters at Health Journalism 2025 in Los Angeles: Speak up and stand up against misinformation and disinformation coming from government sources.
Becerra, who took questions for nearly an hour, spoke forcefully about his tenure in Washington during the Biden administration. When he accepted the position, he said his goal was to “improve care, make it less costly and make it available to more people.” He ticked off many health successes during that time:
- Overseeing a nearly 27% drop in drug overdoses in 2024.
- A national strategy to lower the number of deaths by suicide.
- The implementation of the 988 mental health hotline.
- Availability of $10 per month health insurance plans under the ACA.
- $35 monthly insulin for seniors.
- $2,000 out-of-pocket caps for drugs for Medicare recipients.
- Extending Medicaid coverage for pregnant people to a year to cover both prenatal and postpartum care.
Silent no more
Joanne Kenen, journalist-in-residence at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a contributing writer to Politico Magazine, covered Becerra during his years in Congress and moderated the discussion. She asked how he even began to get his head around the massive dismantling of many of the programs he oversaw.
“You just have to stand up,” he said. While he held his opinion for the first few months of the new administration, Beccera said it was time to start talking about the damage being caused. “To be silent is to acquiesce,” Becerra told attendees. Becerra recently announced he is running for governor of California but agreed that questions about the governor’s race were off-limits for this session. “I will speak because I’m an American and I’m no longer Secretary, and because I got to see what you could do as Secretary, and what HHS can do.”
Questions from reporters ranged from substance abuse prevention and climate change to Medicaid cuts and taking care away from millions of people. Becerra highlighted the Biden administration’s significant investment in mental health services and drug prevention efforts, noting it was “a drop in the bucket” compared to what’s needed. However, much of that life-saving care would disappear under the House budget proposal and cuts within HHS.
His message to those trying to claw back Medicaid expansion was simple: “Don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish.” According to Beccera, people still need health care, and without Medicaid, they will have to get charity care from hospitals, meaning costs will eventually get passed along to everyone else.
He described the case of Deamonte Driver, a Maryland teen whose parents were unable to afford his dental care for a common toothache, at a time before the Affordable Care Act was enacted. By the time they sought help, Driver had developed an abscess and ultimately died from a blood infection. “When we tell people you’re going to get cut off because we don’t have the budget to provide that, it is far from smart,” he said. Becerra also credited his mindset to “one of the most dynamic people in America” — his mother — who often told him it is always better to prevent than to try to remediate.
Combat misinformation and ‘alternative facts’
Misinformation and disinformation in the current political environment is a theme Becerra returned to several times. He emphasized the importance of journalists standing up against falsehoods and continuing to report on evidence-based health policies.
Journalists are on the front line of finding and countering disinformation and must do everything possible to overcome it and hold those in power accountable, he said. The dangerous views coming out of Washington are not only due to President Trump’s lies but are also the result of those around him allowing disinformation to proliferate, Becerra said. “When people start talking about ‘alternative facts,’ we’re in trouble. The facts no longer stand for the same thing anymore.”
He urged journalists to put a human face on important stories because it makes it easier for people to put complex issues into their own life’s context. “If you do, they’re more likely to forget about the disinformation,” he said. “Make it real to them.”
