Sebelius Says Obama Has Instructed All Cabinet-Level Departments To Promote Public Health

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says President Obama “expects” all cabinet departments to leverage their resources in support of public health, a move she suggested is unprecedented.

“One of the things that’s happened in this administration, which I would suggest has not really happened in the past, is that the president has made it very clear to all of us at the cabinet level that while health may be directly in the portfolio of Health and Human Services, he expects all of the cabinet officers to spend some time figuring out ways that we can leverage their assets and work on this issue,” said Sebelius in an April 8 speech on Capitol Hill.

“Having this multi-agency focus on these [health] initiatives I think is an enormously important way to not only leverage our assets, but actually to look at the whole community strategy, which I think is so very important,” she added.

Sebelius explained that the Department of Transportation (DOT) can operate as a “health agency" by funding bike trails for communities, among other things.

“Transportation, you wouldn’t necessarily think that the Department of Transportation is a public health agency, but actually they have a lot to do with community health and public health because they have the funds for bike trails and walking paths and sidewalks and green space,” explained Sebelius.

In addition, the HHS secretary emphasized that cabinet-level departments are working together in some cases. For example, she noted that Health and Human Services is currently working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to bring mental and physical health services to the homeless.

“We are now collaborating with HUD to make sure that when a housing project is funded, when vouchers are given for housing initiatives at the local level, that the mental health service folks and the physical health service folks are also involved in that…because that’s really the way that you actually move people from homelessness into some sort of permanent housing,” said Sebelius.

“The secretary of housing does not have the lever to encourage or mandate that the service folks be at the table, but we do,” she added.

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