Send in Your Public Comment Opposing the Department of Health and Human Services Proposed Rule!

On November 4, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a proposed rule called Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely (SUNSET), which sets expiration dates for its regulations unless the agency reviews them. Specifically, the proposed rule provides that HHS regulations will automatically expire at the later of: two years after the SUNSET proposal takes effect; ten years after the regulation was originally promulgated; or ten years after HHS assesses and, if necessary, reviews the regulation. The review process is extensive and requires HHS staff to consider several different factors when determining if regulation should continue. This rule is unnecessary as there are already processes in place for HHS to review and update regulations as needed. This rule will create an undue burden for HHS staff and severely affect HHS staff’s ability to administer essential programs. HHS estimates that it would have to assess over 2,400 rules in the first two years of implementation. This rule would cause HHS to divert staff time from effectively administering programs to ensuring that critical regulations do not expire. If rules expire, this would cause significant harm. For example, updates to Medicaid law provisions are approaching their 10-year anniversaries, like the Medicaid cost-sharing rule. The underlying law still exists if the regulation expires, leaving states with no guidance or oversight when establishing cost-sharing amounts. This would impact states’ ability to administer their programs and could potentially harm beneficiaries. This rule would apply to all of HHS regulations including Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, the Food and Drug Administration, the Administration for Children and Families (child care, Head Start, child support, child welfare services, Office of Refugee Resettlement...), Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, programs for seniors, for people with disabilities, substance use disorder treatment, mental health treatment and more. As people of faith, we must stand against this unnecessary increase in bureaucracy. Efficiency is a part of the biblical mandate. In the Book of Exodus, Moses was told by his father-in-law, Jethro, that his leadership was inefficient and helped him to reorganize judgeships (Exodus 18). In the book of Acts, the disciples organized disciples to serve as deacons to serve the people (Acts 6). Doing things “decently and in order” is a Presbyterian mainstay and instructive in helping others to organize government and personal lives. This proposed rule is currently open for public comment until this Friday, December 4th. Prepare your comment and visit the federal register comments page to submit. It is imperative that HHS hear from people of faith about why this rule is unacceptable!   Let your voice be heard and submit your comment TODAY!  A sample comment can be found here.