NHFPI report details potential impact of $81.3 million being revoked from New Hampshire DHHS

Yahoo

09-05-2025

The funding came from myriad federal laws, grants, and programs designed to help New Hampshire, and other states, recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Getty Images)
In March, the federal government announced it was revoking $81.3 million in pandemic-related funding from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services that was not expected to expire until 2026.
The funding was being used to support the state's epidemiological laboratory and testing capacity, outreach to vaccinate residents, efforts to address health disparities in the state, and substance use disorder treatment programming, as outlined in a new report from the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute.
The funding came from myriad federal laws, grants, and programs designed to help New Hampshire, and other states, recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. State officials originally believed they'd be able to spend this funding into 2026, but in a surprise announcement, federal officials clawed back the funding on grounds that the pandemic has ended.
This made a difficult budget year for New Hampshire ever more challenging. The state has been dealing with lagging business tax revenues for the past few years, is being compelled by the courts to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement money after hundreds of children were abused in its juvenile detention centers, and was already running out of pandemic-era federal funding. Amid these challenges, Gov. Kelly Ayotte unveiled a $16 billion two-year budget proposal in February. House lawmakers decided her cuts weren't sufficient to deal with the aforementioned fiscal challenges and passed a budget in April that spends $643 million less than the governor's proposal. Now, the Senate is debating the spending plan, and lawmakers will have to figure out how to either find funding for these programs elsewhere or eliminate them.
Roughly two-thirds — $51.1 million — of the revoked funding was set aside for the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity for Prevention and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases Program, a joint program between the federal government and states that seeks to allow states to respond to disease outbreaks, according to the Fiscal Policy Institute. The money was being spent to increase the capacity of the state's epidemiological testing and laboratories, and on disease research and surveillance.
About a quarter of the funding — $20.7 million — the federal government revoked was being used to support vaccine outreach efforts. Additionally, about 6% — $5 million — was being used to address health disparities in how COVID-19 affected different populations. Money from both of those segments was used to hire 39 community health workers. Those community health workers, typically members of the community where they serve, helped clients navigate the complicated health care system and connected them to food assistance or child care programs.
Additionally, the revoked money was funding behavioral health programs. A little over 2% — $2.1 million — came from a grant meant to provide community mental health services, and almost 3% — $2.3 million — was being used to support substance use (addiction) treatment, though the money was mostly being used on operational support and not direct patient services. That included programs teaching first responders how to deal with patients experiencing PTSD or other trauma, assisting community mental health centers in becoming federally certified as community behavioral health clinics, and the state's 24-hour service that provides mental health assistance via phone and in-person to people experiencing crises.
Those interested in reading more can find the Fiscal Policy Institute's report online at www.nhfpi.org/blog/sudden-end-to-federal-pandemic-related-grants-leaves-unplanned-service-gaps/.