Leader Spotlight: Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

Xavier Becerra is the 25th Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and the first Latino to hold the office in the history of the United States. The Senate narrowly confirmed Becerra's nomination by a 50-49 vote March 18, 2021. He now leads a $1 trillion-plus agency with 80,000 employees.

Born in Sacramento Secretary Becerra is the son of working-class parents. He was the first in his family to receive a four-year degree, earning his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Stanford University. He earned his Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School. His mother was born in Jalisco, Mexico and immigrated to the United States after marrying his father, a day laborer turned construction worker.

Becerra, 62, served 24 years in Congress as a member of the House of Representatives before becoming the attorney general of his home state in 2017. He is the first Latino to hold that office, and while in Congress he was the first Latino to serve as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, where he worked on health care as a senior member of the health subcommittee. He also led the House Democratic Caucus, which gave him a powerful leadership post.

Becerra was also a fierce advocate of the Latino community and became deeply involved in efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration system. In addition he promoted plans to build a national museum devoted to exploring the culture and history of American Latinos, the House voted this year to create such a museum.

As Attorney General of the state of California, Secretary Becerra helped to promote competition by taking on a number of pharmaceutical companies that restricted competition through "pay-for-delay" schemes, held several companies accountable for legal violations for not protecting patients' health information, and took action early in the pandemic to keep Californians safe by using his authority to protect workers from exposure to COVID-19, secure key safeguards for frontline health care workers' rights, and take on fraudsters trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic.

In addition, he cracked down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, acted to combat the opioid crisis, including holding drug makers accountable, won an unprecedented $575 million antitrust settlement against one of the largest health systems in California, and he led the three-year federal court fight to save the ACA and with it, the protections of the 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions.

During the Senate confirmation hearings for his HHS role Becerra indicated his support for permanent telehealth expansions. He said he wants to boost technology accessibility and is committed to permanently expanding payment policies that have increased virtual health during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Politico. For some his nomination was polarizing since Becerra has no background in public health or medicine, however he has continued to push for other protections, recently reminding healthcare providers of their signed agreements to cover COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to patients, and group health plans and health insurers of their legal requirement to provide coverage of COVID-19 vaccinations and diagnostic testing without costs to patients.