Rep. Brown Co-Leads Letter with Rep. Kelly to RFK Jr. Urging Regional Health Departments Remain Open

Washington, DC – Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) co-led a letter authored by Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02) urging the Trump administration to reverse its recent announcement to shut down six regional offices in the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of General Counsel. The Region V Office, which would be closed, serves Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. The letter was signed by 21 Members of Congress and sent to HHS on March 19, 2025. 

The Office of General Counsel protects patients from fraud and bad actors. In Fiscal Year 2023, the Office returned more than $3.4 billion to the federal government and individuals from civil health care fraud settlements and judgments.

“The planned shutdown of more than half of the regional offices would leave only four offices to serve a country of over 330 million people and directly undermine HHS’s capacity to improve America’s health and effectively safeguard taxpayer dollars,” members wrote in the letter. “In addition to being a shortsighted effort that will severely hinder HHS’s ability to fulfill its mission, the planned office closures stand in direct opposition to the Trump Administration’s purported focus on combatting ‘waste, fraud, and abuse.’

“We therefore urge you to reconsider this plan to shutter vital regional offices, including the Region V office in Chicago, and instead work towards ensuring all offices remain fully operational and adequately resourced to do their jobs,” members continued in the letter. “The American people deserve better than this. If you are truly committed to improving the efficiency of our health care system, making America healthy, and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse, we hope you will prioritize the enforcement of our nation’s health laws and the standards that help ensure the safety and dignity of our nation’s most vulnerable.”

Read the full letter here.

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