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The Department of Health and Human Services has abruptly canceled more than $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used for tracking infectious diseases, mental health services, addiction treatment and other urgent health issues. The cuts are likely to further hamstring state health departments, which are already underfunded and struggling with competing demands from chronic diseases, resurgent infections like syphilis and emerging threats like bird flu.
State health departments began receiving notices on Monday evening that the funds, which were allocated during the Covid-19 pandemic, were being terminated, effective immediately: “No additional activities can be conducted, and no additional costs may be incurred, as it relates to these funds,” the notices said.
For some, the effect was immediate. In Lubbock, Texas, public health officials have received orders to stop work supported by three grants that helped fund the response to the widening measles outbreak there, according to Katherine Wells, the city’s director of public health. Some state health departments were preparing to lay off dozens of epidemiologists and data scientists. Others were still scrambling to understand the impact of the cuts before taking any action.
In interviews, state health officials predicted that thousands of health department employees and contract workers could lose their jobs nationwide. Some predicted the loss of as much as 90 percent of staff from some infectious disease teams. “The reality is that, when we take funding away from public health systems, the systems just do not have the capacity, because they’re chronically underfunded over the decades,” said Dr. Umair Shah, who served as Washington State’s health secretary until January.
Congress authorized the money for state public health programs as part of Covid relief bills. The funds were indeed initially used for testing for and vaccination against the coronavirus, as well as to address health disparities in high-risk populations. But last year, the money was also allowed to be put toward other pressing public health concerns, including testing and surveillance of other respiratory viruses, an array of vaccines for children or uninsured adults and preparedness for health emergencies.
The Trump administration’s cancellations of grants and contracts throughout the government has led to numerous lawsuits from states and nonprofit groups, which are still in their early stages. The health grants in question were authorized and appropriated by Congress, and their termination may lead to new lawsuits. Several states said they were exploring legal options.
Some states, like Kentucky and South Carolina, rely heavily on federal funding to run their health programs, while others, such as New Jersey and California, depend on it less. Still, most of the people and data systems that track disease outbreaks are funded by the C.D.C.
The abruptness of the decision left “no opportunities to transition people into other means, no opportunities even for a state government to say, ‘In our next budget cycle, we’re going to add X number of positions,’” said one official with close knowledge of the impact, who asked not to be named because they feared retaliation from the Trump administration.
“There’s millions of dollars that have been spent that essentially, the projects will never be able to be finished,” the official said. “This is just like throwing money out the window; it’s a total waste.”
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
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I do hope it bites them all in the ass. Or somewhere more vital.