Tag Archives: Federal Budget

Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget: 9 healthcare takeaways

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http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/trump-s-4-1-trillion-budget-9-healthcare-takeaways.html

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President Donald Trump’s first full budget proposal will include $3.6 trillion in spending cuts to balance the budget in the next decade.

Although the full $4.1 trillion budget plan, titled “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” will be released Tuesday, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney briefed White House reporters Monday on the budget.

Here are nine of the key proposals related to healthcare in President Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2018, which begins Oct. 1.

1. Medicaid cuts. President Trump’s budget includes $610 billion in Medicaid cuts over 10 years. The reduction is in addition to the $839 billion pulled from Medicaid under the proposed American Health Care Act, the ACA repeal and replacement bill that phases out Medicaid expansion, according to The Hill.

2. Repeal and replace the ACA. The budget assumes passage of the AHCA. The Trump administration expects to save $250 billion over 10 years by repealing and replacing the ACA. These savings are in addition to the $610 billion in proposed Medicaid cuts in the budget, according to The New York Times.

3. Medicare unscathed. The budget makes no changes to the Medicare program or to core Social Security benefits, two programs President Trump vowed during his campaign to leave alone, according to The Hill.

4. Reduction in CHIP funding. Under the budget, $5.8 billion would be cut from the Children’s Health Insurance Program over 10 years, according to a budget document posted by The Washington Post.

5. NIH funding cut. Under the budget proposal, the National Institutes of Health budget would be reduced from $31.8 billion to $26 billion, according to The Washington Post.

6. Cuts to CDC funding. Several CDC programs would be hit with cuts under the budget proposal. One of the biggest cuts is to the agency’s chronic disease prevention programs, which would have funding reduced by $222 million, according to The Washington Post.

7. Veterans Choice Program extended. The budget calls for extension of the Veterans Choice Program, which allows veterans to go outside of the Veterans Affairs system for care. Under the budget, $29 billion more would be spent on this program over 10 years, according to The New York Times.

8. Medical malpractice limits. The budget includes medical malpractice reforms, such as capping awards for noneconomic damages, that are intended to reduce the practice of defensive medicine. The Trump administration expects these changes to save Medicare $31 billion over a decade, according to The New York Times.

9. Funds substance abuse treatment. The budget would allocate $500 million to expand access to treatments, including medication-assisted treatment, for those suffering from opioid addiction. The budget also includes $1.9 billion in block grants for states to use for substance abuse treatment and $25 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for expanding access to critical interventions. SAMHSA would also receive an additional $24 million to equip first responders with overdose reversing drugs.

Trump budget would force tough choices in disease research

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http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/trump-budget-force-tough-choices-disease-research-46183046

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What goes on the chopping block: Research into cancer or Alzheimer’s? A Zika vaccine or a treatment for superbugs?

Health groups say President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash funds for the nation’s engine of biomedical research would be devastating for patients with all kinds of diseases — and for jobs.

“It is possible that the next cure for some cancer is sitting there waiting to be discovered, and it won’t get to the table,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association.

In his budget blueprint Thursday, Trump called for a cut of $5.8 billion from the National Institutes of Health. That’s a staggering 18 percent drop for the $32 billion agency that funds much of the nation’s research into what causes different diseases and what it will take to treat them.

It comes despite Trump recently telling Congress about the need to find “cures to the illnesses that have always plagued us.”

“All of us woke up this morning in a state of shock about this number,” said Dr. Blase Polite, a cancer specialist at the University of Chicago who chairs the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s government relations committee.

Trump’s proposal would roll back NIH’s 2018 budget to about what it was in 2003. The president called for a “major reorganization” of NIH to stress the “highest priority research,” but only specifically targeted for elimination the $69 million Fogarty International Center that focuses on global health and has played a big role in HIV research abroad.

Drops in deaths from cancer and heart disease, breakthroughs in genetics, and new ways to treat and prevent HIV and other infectious diseases all are credited to decades of NIH-funded basic research.

 

Trump budget proposes 19 percent cut in NIH funding, leaving life science institutions reeling

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Trump budget proposes 19 percent cut in NIH funding, leaving life science institutions reeling

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As part of Trump’s budget proposal, he wants to chop $5.8B from the National Institutes of Health, or 19 percent, as part of a spending overhaul the Department of Health and Human Services.  The budget calls for a major reorganization of NIH’s institutes and centers, describing the move as a way to “help focus resources on the highest priority research and training activities.”

The proposal would also consolidate the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality within NIH, and it would also mean “other consolidations and structural changes across NIH organizations and activities”.

Life science institutions are horrified.

It seems like only yesterday that Congress was prepared to boost NIH spending by $2 billion  — the biggest increase in 12 years.

Here is a round-up of reactions from national and regional institutions.

The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network released a statement estimating that the NIH budget cuts were likely to cut $1 billion from the National Cancer Institute, noting it would be the biggest budget cut to the institution in its history.

Chris Hansen, president of the network said the cuts would be a significant setback for millions of American cancer patients, survivors and their families and would “dramatically constrain the prospect for breakthrough American medical innovation”.

For the last 50 years every major medical breakthrough can be traced back to investments in the NIH. Because of these investments, there are more than 15.5 million American cancer survivors alive today and researchers stand on the cusp of numerous innovative new diagnostic tools and treatments. From new immunotherapies that harness the body’s own immune system to destroy cancer cells to less toxic and more precise chemotherapies and advanced diagnostic and preventive tools.

“These developments save lives and spur economic progress. NIH-funded medical research is conducted in thousands of labs and universities across the country. These grants in turn spawn increased private investment and development. Drastically reducing NIH’s budget would jeopardize our nation’s potential to save more lives while simultaneously risking America’s position as the global leader in medical research.

 

An infographic of healthcare cuts in Trump’s draft budget

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An infographic of healthcare cuts in Trump’s draft budget

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Healthcare groups bash Trump’s budget proposal: Cuts threaten public health

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Nurses, docs and medical research groups said the budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump threaten the future of healthcare.

Among the cuts: Nearly 18% of HHS’ budget, with the largest cuts coming to National Institutes of Health. The agency would see a $5.9 million decrease in its budget and a significant reorganization effort that would fold the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research into its ranks and close the Fogarty International Center

Nurses came out in force against the budget cuts. The American Nurses Association urged Congress to reject Trump’s proposal, which they said in a statement will  “weaken the nation’s healthcare system and jeopardize the scientific research needed to keep America healthy.”

The ANA is especially upset about plans to reduce funding for health professions and nursing workforce programs by $403 million. The proposal “drastically hampers efforts to address critical faculty shortages and recruit new nurses into the profession,” the association said.

Furthermore, the National Nurses United called the cuts a “broad attack on public protections that also targets some of the nation’s most vulnerable people while shifting resources to the least needed areas.”

The American Public Health Association agreed, stating that the proposal undermines the health and well-being of Americans.

“Cuts to these agencies would threaten programs that protect the public from the next infectious disease outbreak, polluted air and water, health threats due to climate change and our growing chronic disease epidemic,” APHA Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., said in the statement.

And Andrew Gurman, M.D., president of the American Medical Association, said the cuts cause great concerns about future medical research and public health in general and in the wake of Zika, Ebola.

The Association of American Medical Colleges noted in a statement that medical research can’t be “turned on and off like a faucet.” Indeed, “the proposed cuts would set back progress toward critical advancements that could take decades to regain, prevent new ideas from being explored, and have a chilling effect on those who would potentially enter the biomedical research workforce.”

And the American Cancer Society said the reduction in funding would set cancer research back at least two decades.

“For the last 50 years every major medical breakthrough can be traced back to investments in the NIH,” Chris Hansen, president of the ACS Cancer Action Network, said in the statement. “Because of these investments, there are more than 15.5 million American cancer survivors alive today and researchers stand on the cusp of numerous innovative new diagnostic tools and treatments.”