During his campaign before the presidential election, Donald Trump had promised to bring revolutionary changes in government policies. One of these was to eliminate “unnecessary programs” to reduce the financial burden on the federal government. Recent documents reveal that his administration is going to take a huge step in this regard in the health sector.
An undisclosed document put forward by the Trump administration shows that the federal government would eliminate numerous health programs. The purpose is to reduce the monetary burden caused by spending on unnecessary programs.
What’s in the Document?
The internal document, sent by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has proposed major cuts in health spending. If approved as is, it may reduce overall health spending by over 30% by bringing it down from $116.8 billion to $80.4 billion.
Impact on CDC
The proposed reduction in funding includes several institutes and federal health agencies related to HHS. The most affected one is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The plan aims to eliminate the CDC’s global health center and programs related to domestic HIV/AIDS prevention and chronic disease prevention.
Agency programs on gun violence, youth violence, injury prevention, minority health, drowning, and some others will be eliminated entirely. However, some other departments and works will be transferred to the newly formed Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) centers. There is a great chance that these programs will be eliminated because the administration has already dismissed many staff members in these departments on April 1.
Institutes Other Than CDC
Other programs affected by these cuts are rural health programs under HHS. In these departments, the administration wants to eliminate all grants and residency programs for state offices and rural hospitals. Additionally, some other programs will be shifted to the primary care department of AHA.
The National Institute of Health (NIH) is another department that shares the burden of the proposed reduction in healthcare funding. According to reports, the institute would lose most of its departments as only eight of its 27 research institutes will be preserved. These measures will reduce its budget by more than 40%.
Departments to Remain Unaffected
The sweeping budget cut proposal can affect many entities related to the health department. However, some others will remain intact entirely or through a different model. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the National Institute on Ageing, and the National Cancer Institute will remain as they are.
The government has formed five new entities to accommodate research institutes for child health illnesses, chronic diseases, mental health, substance abuse, and disabilities. These new entities are the National Institute on Body Systems, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, National Institute on Neuroscience and Brain Research, National Institute of Behavioral Health, and the National Institute of Disability Related Research.
The document has also proposed other steps to ensure further reduction in healthcare funding. One of these is enforcing a salary cap for experts hired under Title 42. Currently, NIH has the authority to hire these experts in senior roles and offers payments at its discretion.
Only a Proposed Version
The document has revealed the funding cut plan in the Trump budget proposal. However, this is not a finalized version and may change during the initial or later stages of approval. The OMB spokesperson highlighted this fact in his statement: “No final funding decisions have been made.” Visit BenefitsbyState.com for more Insight.
