Department of Health and Human Services

HHS is the Cabinet department responsible for the nation's public health, medical research, food and drug safety, and major health-insurance and social-welfare programs. It runs agencies such as the CDC, FDA, NIH, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, serving nearly all Americans through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start. The Secretary, a Cabinet member, leads the department and advises the President on health policy.

Created by Congress under the Department of Education Organization Act (redesignated the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as HHS; HEW itself was created by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1953) (Pub. L. 96-88, 93 Stat. 668; 20 U.S.C. 3508 (redesignation effective May 4, 1980); HHS organic functions at 42 U.S.C. ch. 43), it acts within the authority that statute grants. Its actions are subject to judicial review and to congressional oversight and funding.