A big-picture document summarizing the Trump administration’s intentions for the Department of Health and Human Services suggests the agency is in for a major round of cuts and reorganization, some of which is already underway.
Among the cuts noted in the 64-page document are a $20 billion cut (40 percent) in the National Institutes of Health budget; a $4 billion cut (44 percent) in the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that would eliminate the agency’s work on chronic disease programs; the elimination of a number of rural health programs; and the elimination of all funding for Head Start.
Under the plan, the NIH would consolidate its operations into eight institutes and centers from the current 27 and a new Administration for a Healthy America would absorb programs from current agencies while spending $500 million to support “Make America Healthy Again” initiatives.
Work involving health equity, gun violence, worker safety, sexually transmitted illness and hepatitis testing, vaccine hesitancy research, and transgender health research would wind down or end.
Even before the administration proposes an FY 2026 budget, HHS has cut its workforce by about 20,000 workers as the agency moves toward a reduction in its discretionary budget from the current $121 billion to about $80 billion.
Learn more about the changes that could be in store for HHS from the Washington Post article “Internal budget document reveals extent of Trump’s proposed health cuts” (password required).