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On Tuesday, May 23, President Donald Trump released the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018, including cuts to a variety of health care programs and departments.
Among the reductions, President Trump’s budget reduces the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) discretionary funding by $12.4 billion, including $610 billion over the next decade in cuts to Medicaid, $6 billion in cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and $1.3 billion in cuts to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Within HHS, the budget includes eliminating both the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (“AHRQ”), which will be consolidated into NIH to avoid duplication in health services research, as well as the Health Professionals and Nursing Training Programs, although health workforce activities that provide scholarships and loan repayments in exchange for service in areas where there is a shortage of health professionals will continue to be funded. The budget calls for an increase in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Medical Product User Fees and also announces several administrative actions designed to achieve regulatory efficiency and speed the development of safe and effective medical products, including encouraging the use of 21st Century Cures Act tools for drug evaluation, review, and approval. The President’s budget also includes medical liability reform as one of its “major savings” components.
For the NIH, the President’s budget proposes a 20 percent, or $5.791 billion spending reduction. It also proposes to restructure the Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology and reduces its budget by 36 percent. The proposal would cap Medicaid’s federal funding for the first time, cutting $610 billion over the next decade.
Like previous Presidents’ budget proposals, the document is a statement of priorities, and may not advance on the Hill. Congress will propose separate funding legislation in the coming weeks.
Read President Trump’s budget proposal here.
