 Health Care | Health Care |
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Trump administration seeks steep cuts to HHS budget |
The White House is seeking $94.7 billion to fund the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in fiscal year 2026, a decrease of more than $31 billion. |
The proposal released late Friday provides new details that were missing from the administration's initial release about a month ago. The latest proposal reflects HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s focus on chronic disease and desire to reshape the federal health agencies. The White House said the plan "prioritizes resources to efficiently achieve our goal to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)." While presidential budget requests aren't signed into law, they can serve as a blueprint for lawmakers as they begin crafting their funding legislation.
Stakeholder groups and outside experts said the proposal shows a concerted effort to shift funding away from public health priorities and biomedical research.
For instance, the plan calls for slashing the budget of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by nearly 40 percent from FY 2025.
"You might as well gift wrap the future and hand it to China," Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the Senate Appropriations Committee's top Democrat, said in a statement.
It would consolidate the agency's 27 institutes, leaving just three intact: the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Institute of Aging, with significant funding cuts. The others would be consolidated into five new institutes and centers.
"This restructuring will create efficiencies within NIH that will allow the agency to focus on true science, and coordinate research to make the best use of federal funds," according to the HHS Budget in Brief.
But the organizations impacted don't see it that way.
"Returning to funding levels from two decades ago – and three decades ago when accounting for biomedical inflation – will set this nation back dramatically in our ability to reduce death and suffering from a disease that is expected to kill more than 618,000 Americans this year alone," the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) said in a statement.
"If the proposal is enacted, Americans today and tomorrow will be sicker, poorer, and die younger," Mary Woolley, CEO of Research!America, a science advocacy nonprofit, said in a statement.
Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the administration wants a strong NIH and will continue to prioritize cancer research.
But in a CNN interview Sunday, Vought said the agency has gotten too big and too political.
"It's more about the NIH, and the NIH has been a bureaucracy that we believe has been weaponized against the American people," he told CNN. |
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How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond: |
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Democratic lawmakers are admonishing President Trump's budget chief for claiming the GOP's mega-bill will not cause anyone to lose Medicaid benefits, contradicting independent assessments that war billions could lose coverage if it becomes law. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought told CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday's episode of "State of the Union" that concerns over the Trump administration's domestic policy package … |
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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) doubled down on his claim that there won’t be Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” despite projections that millions of low-income individuals would lose health insurance as a result of the bill. Johnson, during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” pushed back on independent projections that the bill would lead to 4.8 million people … |
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Public health experts say Robert F. Kennedy Jr is exactly who they thought he was. The Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary — who is also the nation's most well-known vaccine skeptic — is remaking the agency in his image, casting doubt on the benefits of vaccines, and erecting new barriers that will make it harder for people who want shots to get them, like requiring new vaccines to be tested against placebos. … |
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A MESSAGE FROM ALLIANCE FOR PHARMACY COMPOUNDING |
14 Ways to Cut Red Tape—and Protect Patient Care |
Ineffective policies are limiting access to critical compounded drugs–patient-specific therapies prescribed when FDA-approved drugs fall short. Our Blueprint outlines 14 ways to protect patient care. Learn more. |
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Local and state headlines on health care: |
- Health care costs quietly rise in New York state as hospitals buy more private practices (Newsday)
- Minnesota was among the first to launch youth mental health corp, but DOGE cuts could put in jeopardy (The Minnesota Star Tribune)
- How RFK Jr., Democrats and Republicans found common ground over food labels in Texas (Texas Tribune)
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Health news we've flagged from other outlets: |
- Millions of kids are caregivers for elders. Why their numbers might grow (KFF Health News)
- Drug-defying breast cancers spotted early in blood-test study (The New York Times)
- FDA commissioner evades questions on COVID shot, calls CDC panel 'kangaroo court' (Stat)
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