Healthcare Associations Speak Out Against White House’s Plan for Massive HHS Cuts

Opposition to the proposed 26-percent cuts to the budget for the Department of Health and Human Services, is becoming more organized this week, in the wake of the announcement by the Trump administration on May 5 that it was seeking massive cuts to the fiscal-year 2026 federal budget, focused on HHS.

As Healthcare Innovation reported on that date, “On May 2, the White House, through its Office of Management and Budget, released its proposed 2026 budget, and it includes huge cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services. As Reuters’ Ahmed Aboulenein wrote on Friday afternoon, ‘The White House wants to reduce U.S. health spending by more than a quarter next year, with the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facing the brunt of billions of dollars in cuts. President Donald Trump's administration on Friday proposed a $163 billion cut to the federal budget that would sharply reduce spending in areas including health, education, and housing next year, while increasing outlays for defense and border security.’ Indeed, Aboulenein wrote, ‘The proposed budget requests $93.8 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services - a cut of $33.3 billion, or 26.2 percent—from this year's budget of $127 billion.’” What’s more, OMB is calling for 40-percent cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), and a 25-percent cut to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

On May 2, the Washington, D.C.-based Families USA released a statement attributed to Anthony Wright, the organization’s executive director, that began thus: “President Trump’s budget is so draconian and extreme that even some of his allies in Congress can’t support it, and rightly so. President Trump’s budget is just another example of this administration taking a chainsaw to our nation’s health system – these cuts would be devastating not just for the remaining heroic public servants responsible for protecting our health, but would also undermine and even dismantle core functions of our nation’s services to provide coverage and care and overall public health for the American people.”

Further, Wright stated, “This budget attacks science and research to find effective medical treatments, public health preparedness and ability to manage outbreaks, programs that serve pregnant women, moms and babies, and critical education and training to support health care providers in meeting the health needs of our nation’s families. This budget proposal carries forward the Trump administration’s relentless effort to decentralize and weaken our public health and health care infrastructure, shifting the burden of costs on to states that are already dealing with significant budget shortfalls, much caused by this administration’s reckless funding freezes and cuts. Coupled with Republican Congressional proposals that would decimate coverage and access to care, this budget would catapult states into a health and fiscal crisis.” Wright urged Americans to “rally against this budget and the administration’s anti-health agenda, including the reckless budget reconciliation plans being proposed in Congress over the next few weeks.

To read the full article, see "Healthcare Associations Speak Out Against White House’s Plan for Massive HHS Cuts," which originally appeared on Healthcare Innovation, an Endeavor Business Media partner site.