HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Tours New England, Announces $100 Million Investment in Women’s Healthcare Alongside the First Lady

Secretary Visits New Hampshire to Highlight Biden-Harris Administration’s Efforts to Lower Prescription Drug Costs

This week, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra toured New England to highlighted how President Biden’s agenda is delivering for communities across the country. The Secretary joined First Lady Jill Biden in Boston to announce $100 million investment in women’s health research, toured Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire to highlight lowering health care costs, sat down with the Wall Street Journal for their annual Health Forum, and spoke with students at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

Event with First Lady Jill Biden

On Wednesday, Secretary Becerra visited Boston, Massachusetts, for an event with the First Lady to announce $100 million in research and development for women’s health through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within HHS.

“The issue of healthcare for women has faced challenges longer than any of us have been alive: scientific challenges, clinical challenges, political challenges, and now this week, down in Alabama, another legal challenge,” said Secretary Becerra in remarks at the event. “The key here is that President Joe Biden made [ARPA-H's announcement] possible: $100 million. That is everything. And with the First Lady launching this White House initiative on women's health research, we have the focus we need. And so at the Department of Health and Human Services, she had us at hello: we are ready to go.”

Visit to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire

On Tuesday, Secretary Becerra visited Dartmouth Hithcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, New Hampshire as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America Tour. Secretary Becerra, along with U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan (NH), started their visit by touring DHMC’s birthing pavilion and meeting with leaders of the Moms in Recovery Program, a program for pregnant and parenting women who struggle with substance use. They also discussed rural maternal health equity.

The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized maternal health, including by urging all states and territories to provide a full year of continuous postpartum coverage through Medicaid and CHIP under the American Rescue Plan Act. To date, CMS has approved these postpartum coverage extensions in   states and DC and the Virgin Islands, including New Hampshire since November 2023.

Secretary Becerra and Senator Hassan toured the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s birthing pavilion.

Afterwards at a fireside chat, Secretary Becerra discussed how President Biden’s lower cost prescription drug law (the Inflation Reduction Act) is generating savings for people with Medicare. HHS estimates 73,000 Granite Staters will save an average of $490 per year on prescription drug costs when new policies go into effect in 2025. 

Sit-Down with the Wall Street Journal

Secretary Becerra also spoke in Boston at the Wall Street Journal Health Forum about HHS’s work on COVID, health care enrollment, closing health equity gaps, and lowering drug prices.

Secretary Becerra being interviewed at The Wall Street Journal Health Forum in Boston.

Visit to Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics (IOP)

Closing out the Secretary’s travel in Boston, Secretary Becerra visited Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics for a wide-ranging conversation with undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. The Secretary answered questions about mental health, reproductive health care, and expanding health care access.

Secretary Becerra answers questions from students at The Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics in Boston.

Read and watch more about Secretary Becerra’s events in New England:

Boston Herald: Biden administration will commit $100 million toward women’s health research

“We know we have more to do to advance our knowledge and medical treatment for conditions that affect women. ARPA-H is joining an HHS-wide effort to take up that challenge,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “Women are dramatically under-represented in research into critical issues, including coronary issues and autoimmune diseases. Women have their needs overlooked or are left out entirely from scientific and health research overall.”

WBTS (NBC) - Boston, Massachusetts

AP: Jill Biden announces $100 million for ‘life-changing’ research and development into women’s health

The money is the first major deliverable of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, which was announced late last year. The money comes from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, which is under the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

Axios: Biden admin commits $100M for women’s health research

The investment is part of federal efforts to close gender gaps in research, which supporters say have led to insufficient funding for endometriosis, MS and other conditions that disproportionately affect women... Startup founders, investors and health advocates gathered with ARPA-H officials after the announcements to discuss various problems affecting women's health. The agency's program managers will develop focus areas for the women's health research efforts and solicit ideas for potential solutions, ARPA-H Director Renee Wegrzyn tells Axios. That could range from medical treatments and detection tools to new research models or gene-editing technology.

WMUR: HHS Secretary Becerra discusses rural maternity care in Lebanon

Access to maternal health care for women in rural areas is shrinking across the country, and on Tuesday, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services heard more about the problem in New Hampshire.

Secretary Xavier Becerra said that Washington needs to do more to address the issue.

In the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon, Becerra and U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, heard from providers about the expectant mothers in New Hampshire and Vermont who rely on the hospital....

Maternity deserts are the growing swaths of the United States where women do not have nearby access to obstetric care.

“Clearly, we could do better, especially in rural communities where it takes forever to get to one of those major hospitals if you really need them,” Becerra said. “So we're going to try to do more and put assets in place in rural communities, so they can access the care they need faster.”…

The Wall Street Journal: Pushing Healthcare Forward

President Biden has received challenges on a number of healthcare issues, including costs, female reproductive rights and immigration. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra shares how the administration is pushing to retain the progress it has made.

WMUR (ABC) - Manchester, NH

… WMUR’s Adam Sexton: On his trip to the Granite state, Secretary Becerra is also touting new price controls on insulin and progress on the government's ability to negotiate the cost of certain drugs covered by Medicare.

Secretary Becerra: We submitted our proposed pricing to the to the nine companies that have the ten most expensive drugs on Medicare, about $46 billion last year alone for just ten drugs. We're expecting a response by the end of this month. And by September, we will let you know what the price is that we negotiate with these companies.

WCAX: HHS secretary visits Upper Valley to discuss drug price reforms in Inflation Reduction Act (video)

Addiction, access to rural health care, and high drug prices were just some of the issues U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra discussed during a stop in the Upper Valley Tuesday. For the third time in as many months, a member of President Biden’s cabinet traveled to New Hampshire touting the work of the administration.

… Drug prices were at the top of the agenda during Tuesday’s meeting at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center with HHS Secretary Becerra answering questions from Dartmouth Health CEO Joanne Conroy and New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan.

The Biden administration’s so-called Investing in America Tour is highlighting provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act designed to lower health care costs by capping out-of-pocket payments.

“No senior is going to have to pay more than $2,000 out of pocket for prescription drugs. That may not seem like a lot for some people but there are thousands and thousands of Americans that are paying tens of thousands of dollars every single year for their drug prices,” Becerra said....