The Populist Mask Falls Off Kennedy's Face

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), he promised a "MAHA" revolution—to Make America Healthy Again in part by taking a sledgehammer to the cozy relationship between federal agencies and Big Pharma. He presented himself as a healthcare populist, someone who would finally purge the "swamp" of industry lackies and corporate capture.

That mask has now fallen.

In a move that exposes Kennedy's masquerade, his Department has officially intervened in litigation to side with multi-billion dollar drugmakers and against the safety-net providers who serve America’s most vulnerable patients. On February 25, the DOJ and HHS filed joint amicus briefs in Colorado and Rhode Island, urging federal appeals courts to strike down state laws that protect 340B contract pharmacy access.

For a Secretary who built his brand on criticizing "Big Pharma," this isn't just a policy shift—it is a betrayal of the very people he claimed to represent.

A harsh verdict? Indeed. But let's look at whose names are on the legal briefs. Both filings were signed by DOJ Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate—a man who, as recently as January 2025, was a partner at a corporate law firm representing the drugmaker Sanofi in litigation against 340B contract pharmacy laws.

Think about that. The man now directing the federal government’s legal strategy to dismantle 340B protections spent his private career as a hired gun for the industry trying to do the exact same thing. Alongside him is Yaakov Roth, another DOJ attorney who previously represented Bristol Myers Squibb in challenges to drug price negotiations.

Is this what "draining the swamp" looks like? It looks more like the swamp has simply been restocked with the same industry-friendly predators, now wearing federal badges. Secretary Kennedy has shamelessly handed the pharmaceutical industry the keys to the kingdom to carry out the drug industry’s long-held legal wish list.

Abandoning the Vulnerable

The 340B program was created to allow safety-net providers—including community health centers, rural hospitals, and clinics—to stretch scarce federal resources to reach more eligible patients. Contract pharmacies are the lifeblood of this program, allowing some patients to get discounted medications in their own neighborhoods rather than traveling hours to a hospital pharmacy.

For many years, across both Republican and Democratic administrations, the government’s stated position was that covered entities have a right to use contract pharmacies. Even the first Trump administration – under an HHS Secretary who previously worked in Big Pharma – reaffirmed this right. Yet, under Secretary Kennedy’s watch, HHS has suddenly adopted the industry’s rhetoric, arguing that state protections for these pharmacies "impermissibly target and discriminate" against manufacturers.

It is a bizarre world where a "populist" Secretary believes that protecting a non-profit rural hospital’s ability to receive discounted drugs is "discriminatory" toward a company like AbbVie, which pulls in billions in profit.

A Pattern of Favoritism

This amicus filing isn't an isolated incident. It is part of a growing, disturbing pattern. Between the signals that HHS is ready to embrace a massive "rebate model" for 340B drugs and the lack of action against manufacturers' unlawful data policies, Kennedy’s Department is no longer acting as a neutral overseer. As Chad Golder of the American Hospital Association correctly noted, HHS has taken the side of drug companies "lock, stock and barrel".

Secretary Kennedy, the public didn't support you because they wanted another lapdog for PhRMA. They supported the idea that someone would finally put patients over profits. By signing off on litigation that directly attacks the 340B safety net, you have exposed your true colors. Do you care?

You haven't disrupted the swamp; you've become its most prominent resident and enabler. The vulnerable patients who rely on the 340B program deserve better than a Secretary who talks like a populist but litigates like a pharmaceutical CEO.