Latest news with #AdministrationforaHealthyAmerica
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Admin Sets HIV Research Back ‘A Decade' With Massive Funding Cut
In 2019, President Donald Trump launched an ambitious new health program with a singular aim: reduce HIV transmission in America by 90 percent. Six years and a change of president later, in his new administration, Trump appears to have all but given up on that idea. On Friday, research programs at Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute that are working to deliver an HIV vaccine were told by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that their $258 million funding would be stopped. The vaccine manufacturer Moderna said that its clinical trials, funded by the NIH, have also been paused. 'The consortia for HIV/AIDS vaccine development and immunology was reviewed by NIH leadership, which does not support it moving forward,' a senior official at the agency told The New York Times. 'NIH expects to be shifting its focus toward using currently available approaches to eliminate HIV/AIDS,' they added. The news comes at 'a terrible time' for HIV vaccine research, an immunology professor at Scripps told CBS News. 'This is a decision with consequences that will linger. This is a setback of probably a decade for HIV vaccine research.' This is just the latest round of funding cuts to HIV research, part of a vast swath of grant terminations undertaken by the NIH. Forty percent of the health bodies' $47 billion budget is expected to be cut by Republican lawmakers, with 20,000 jobs on the chopping block as HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledges to shrink the size of the government and 'make America healthy again.' More than 230 of the nearly 800 research grants that have so far been cut were HIV and AIDS-specific. The impact of the cuts is expected to be global. While HIV infections have been on the decline since 2010, in 2023, there were 1.3 million new cases around the world, with 120,000 of those in children, the World Health Organization reports. 'The HIV pandemic will never be ended without a vaccine, so killing research on one will end up killing people,' John Moore, an HIV researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, told The New York Times. 'The NIH's multiyear investment in advanced vaccine technologies shouldn't be abandoned on a whim like this,' he said. A spokesperson for the HHS defended the cuts to CBS News, saying the 'complex and duplicative health programs have resulted in serious duplication of efforts' and that '27 separate programs that address HIV/AIDS' have spent $7.5 billion. Critical HIV/AIDS programs 'will continue,' the spokesperson said, under the proposed Administration for a Healthy America. Still, with current research on ice, experts are saying that the ongoing (and expected-to-continue) cuts to this necessary research have 'destroyed with an email in a day' what the research community has spent 25 years building.
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
Trump's Skinny Budget: A Bold Prescription for a Healthier HHS
Commentary President Donald Trump's skinny budget for fiscal year 2026, is a game-changer for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). By slashing $40 billion from HHS's discretionary budget, cutting 20,000 jobs, and launching the Administration for a Healthy America, this plan delivers a leaner, more focused agency under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) vision. As the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, I see this budget as a courageous step to eliminate waste, prioritize chronic disease prevention, and rebuild trust in public health. In essence, it's a prescription for a healthier America. Slashing Waste, Saving Billions HHS's discretionary budget, ballooning to $121 billion in 2025, has long been riddled with inefficiencies. Trump's proposal cuts it to $80.4 billion—a 33 percent reduction—saving taxpayers $40 billion annually. By targeting duplicative programs, like the National Institutes of Health 's redundant 27 institutes, the budget redirects funds to high-impact areas like chronic disease prevention, affecting 50 percent of Americans. The consolidation of NIH into eight institutes, streamlines innovation without sacrificing quality. This fiscal discipline, saving $1.8 billion yearly from workforce cuts alone, ensures every dollar serves patients, not bureaucrats. A Leaner, Smarter Workforce The budget's reduction of 20,000 HHS jobs is a masterstroke of efficiency. By trimming administrative roles in human resources, information technology, and high-cost regions, HHS sheds 24 percent of its 82,000-strong workforce, focusing on frontline health priorities. The FDA's cut of 3,500 non-essential jobs, sparing drug reviewers, and the CDC's 2,400 reductions target overhead, not expertise. This leaner HHS is poised to deliver results, not red tape. The AHA: A Vision for Prevention The creation of the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) is the budget's crown jewel. By merging the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, AHA centralizes chronic care, mental health, and environmental health services. This streamlined entity absorbs rural programs, ensuring underserved communities get targeted support. Unlike the programs in the previous administration that were mired in ideology, AHA aligns with MAHA's focus on clean water, safe food, and ending the chronic disease epidemic. Reducing HHS's 10 regional offices to five further sharpens efficiency—and helps free new resources for a new Assistant Secretary for Enforcement to combat fraud. Rejecting Ideological Overreach The budget boldly eliminates programs tainted by 'woke ideology,' such as NIH's gender identity research and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ' health equity initiatives, which have often distracted from core health needs. By refocusing on evidence-based priorities, the budget tackles real threats. This clarity restores public trust, eroded by years of overreach, and empowers states to handle local needs, embodying federalism. Perfect Timing, Lasting Impact Launched in Trump's first 100 days, the budget leverages a 53-seat Senate majority to push reforms before 2026 mid-terms shift dynamics. With Congress's budget authority looming, the proposal's early timing—before June 2025 hearings—sets the stage for Republican-led appropriations to cement these changes. States like Utah banning SNAP soda purchases show the path forward, and HHS's alignment amplifies this momentum. Unlike past budgets ignored by Congress, this plan's clarity and public support make it a positive blueprint. Addressing Concerns, Seizing Opportunity Critics will likely fearmonger over how reductions in bureaucracy will lead to poor health outcomes. But Secretary Kennedy's focus on chronic disease and environmental health counters these fears, and the budget spares mandatory programs like Medicare. For healthcare providers and patients, a streamlined HHS means faster approvals, better care, and lower costs. Taxpayers gain a government that works for them, not against them. Trump's skinny budget is a visionary reset for HHS, slashing waste, empowering prevention, and restoring trust. Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Some federal workers focused on 'black lung' screenings reinstated but still face June termination
The Trump administration plans to terminate federal workers focused on preventing and responding to work-related illnesses, including "black lung" disease in coal miners, according to an internal government memo obtained by NBC News, despite in recent days reinstating some who had been let go. Those terminations could threaten critical programs used to screen for health issues in workers with toxic exposures, including 9/11 first responders, according to people who work on or benefit from the programs. Some workers who benefit from those programs have expressed fears that conditions such as cancer or lung disease could go undetected as a result. Concerns about the future of those programs began earlier this month when the Department of Health and Human Services effectively gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), drastically cutting the headcount of an agency that has been around for 55 years. The move was part of a broader plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, including a massive restructuring of federal health agencies that called for the termination of roughly 20,000 full-time employees. In an agencywide email sent Wednesday, NIOSH's director, John Howard, acknowledged 'a significant number of [reduction in force] notices sent to staff' and said some staffers were brought back from administrative leave this week as part of 'a temporary arrangement to help complete our obligations.' The staffers had received notices on April 1 that they had been placed on leave, with official termination dates set for June. Howard himself received a termination notice in early April but returned to his post after bipartisan opposition from members of Congress regarding his dismissal. The notices 'created confusion and gaps in information that we are continuing to try to fill,' Howard said in his memo. Some programs within NIOSH will move to a newly created agency known as the Administration for a Healthy America, he said, but it's unclear how that transition will occur. One program caught up in the cuts is the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, a congressionally mandated effort to monitor the health of coal miners. For decades, it offered free X-rays to identify lung scarring in miners who continuously inhale coal dust — what's colloquially known as 'black lung.' An HHS official said critical NIOSH programs, including the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, will continue to serve the needs of miners via the newly created Administration for a Healthy America, but did not address the upcoming staffing cuts. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, said Tuesday evening on X that she was encouraged by some NIOSH staff returning to work this week. 'My understanding is that this is temporary, so my focus will continue to be on working with @HHSGov on permanently restoring these functions and personnel in the most efficient and effective manner,' she wrote. A lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coal miner in West Virginia on behalf of himself and others in his field calls for the program to be reinstated. It accuses HHS of violating the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act — which established the program in 1969 — by terminating staffers involved in black lung screenings. HHS has until Thursday to respond to the suit. Coal miners have a higher-than-average risk of dying from black lung by virtue of their occupation. One in 10 underground coal miners who worked in mines for at least 25 years had black lung, according to a NIOSH report in 2018. In Central Appalachia, one of the main coal mining regions in the U.S., the rate was 1 in 5. Scott Laney, an epidemiologist at the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, said the program diagnosed new cases and provided evidence of the disease to miners filing for disability benefits. He estimated that, due to staffing cuts, there are hundreds of thousands of X-rays currently sitting in the basement of the NIOSH facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. 'There's a tranche of X-rays that have gone unread in our system, and these miners are waiting to find out whether they have black lung or not,' he said. On top of that, he said, 'if someone calls NIOSH and asks for their personal health information, we don't have the ability to send that to them right now.' Dave Dayton, a miner in Marion County, West Virginia, said he has personally taken advantage of NIOSH's mobile screenings for lung disease. Many miners work long shifts and would otherwise struggle to see a doctor, he said. 'Without NIOSH being there to help us, I don't know where we're going and where the miners are going to be without their help,' he said. This article was originally published on
NBC News
30-04-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Some federal workers focused on 'black lung' screenings reinstated but still face June termination
The Trump administration plans to terminate federal workers focused on preventing and responding to work-related illnesses, including "black lung" disease in coal miners, according to an internal government memo obtained by NBC News, despite in recent days reinstating some who had been let go. Those terminations could threaten critical programs used to screen for health issues in workers with toxic exposures, including 9/11 first responders, according to people who work on or benefit from the programs. Some workers who benefit from those programs have expressed fears that conditions such as cancer or lung disease could go undetected as a result. Concerns about the future of those programs began earlier this month when the Department of Health and Human Services effectively gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), drastically cutting the headcount of an agency that has been around for 55 years. The move was part of a broader plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, including a massive restructuring of federal health agencies that called for the termination of roughly 20,000 full-time employees. In an agencywide email sent Wednesday, NIOSH's director, John Howard, acknowledged 'a significant number of [reduction in force] notices sent to staff' and said some staffers were brought back from administrative leave this week as part of 'a temporary arrangement to help complete our obligations.' The staffers had received notices on April 1 that they had been placed on leave, with official termination dates set for June. Howard himself received a termination notice in early April but returned to his post after bipartisan opposition from members of Congress regarding his dismissal. The notices 'created confusion and gaps in information that we are continuing to try to fill,' Howard said in his memo. Some programs within NIOSH will move to a newly created agency known as the Administration for a Healthy America, he said, but it's unclear how that transition will occur. One program caught up in the cuts is the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, a congressionally mandated effort to monitor the health of coal miners. For decades, it offered free X-rays to identify lung scarring in miners who continuously inhale coal dust — what's colloquially known as 'black lung.' An HHS official said critical NIOSH programs, including the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, will continue to serve the needs of miners via the newly created Administration for a Healthy America, but did not address the upcoming staffing cuts. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, said Tuesday evening on X that she was encouraged by some NIOSH staff returning to work this week. 'My understanding is that this is temporary, so my focus will continue to be on working with @HHSGov on permanently restoring these functions and personnel in the most efficient and effective manner,' she wrote. A lawsuit filed earlier this month by a coal miner in West Virginia on behalf of himself and others in his field calls for the program to be reinstated. It accuses HHS of violating the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act — which established the program in 1969 — by terminating staffers involved in black lung screenings. HHS has until Thursday to respond to the suit. Coal miners have a higher-than-average risk of dying from black lung by virtue of their occupation. One in 10 underground coal miners who worked in mines for at least 25 years had black lung, according to a NIOSH report in 2018. In Central Appalachia, one of the main coal mining regions in the U.S., the rate was 1 in 5. Scott Laney, an epidemiologist at the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, said the program diagnosed new cases and provided evidence of the disease to miners filing for disability benefits. He estimated that, due to staffing cuts, there are hundreds of thousands of X-rays currently sitting in the basement of the NIOSH facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. 'There's a tranche of X-rays that have gone unread in our system, and these miners are waiting to find out whether they have black lung or not,' he said. On top of that, he said, 'if someone calls NIOSH and asks for their personal health information, we don't have the ability to send that to them right now.' Dave Dayton, a miner in Marion County, West Virginia, said he has personally taken advantage of NIOSH's mobile screenings for lung disease. Many miners work long shifts and would otherwise struggle to see a doctor, he said. 'Without NIOSH being there to help us, I don't know where we're going and where the miners are going to be without their help,' he said.
The Guardian
27-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
The United States is witnessing the return of psychiatric imprisonment
Across the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as 'modern mental health care'. From Governor Kathy Hochul's push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr's proposal for 'wellness farms' under his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care. These proposals may differ in form, but they share a common function: expanding the state's power to surveil, detain and 'treat' marginalized people deemed disruptive or deviant. Far from offering real support, they reflect a deep investment in carceral control – particularly over disabled, unhoused, racialized and LGBTQIA+ communities. Communities that have often seen how the framing of institutionalization as 'treatment' obscures both its violent history and its ongoing legacy. In doing so, these policies erase community-based solutions, undermine autonomy, and reinforce the very systems of confinement they claim to move beyond. Take Hochul's proposal, which seeks to lower the threshold for involuntary psychiatric hospitalization in New York. Under her plan, individuals could be detained not because they pose an imminent danger, but because they are deemed unable to meet their basic needs due to a perceived 'mental illness'. This vague and subjective standard opens the door to sweeping state control over unhoused people, disabled peopleand others struggling to survive amid systemic neglect. Hochul also proposes expanding the authority to initiate forced treatment to a broader range of professionals – including psychiatric nurse practitioners – and would require practitioners to factor in a person's history, in effect pathologizing prior distress as grounds for future detention. This is not a fringe proposal. It builds on a growing wave of reinstitutionalization efforts nationwide. In 2022, New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, directed police and EMTs to forcibly hospitalize people deemed 'mentally ill', even without signs of imminent danger. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom's Care courts compel people into court-ordered 'treatment'. Now, these efforts are being turbocharged at the federal level. RFK Jr's Maha initiative proposes labor-based 'wellness farms' as a response to homelessness and addiction – an idea that eerily echoes the institutional farms of the 20th century, where disabled people and people of color were confined, surveilled and exploited under the guise of rehabilitation. Just recently, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a sweeping restructuring that will dismantle critical agencies and consolidate power under a new 'Administration for a Healthy America' (AHA). Aligned with RFK Jr's Maha initiative and Donald Trump's 'department of government efficiency' directive, the plan merges the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and other agencies into a centralized structure ostensibly focused on combating chronic illness. But through this restructuring – and the mass firing of HHS employees – the federal government is gutting the specialized infrastructure that supports mental health, disability services and low-income communities. The restructuring is already under way: 20,000 jobs have been eliminated, regional offices slashed, and the Administration for Community Living (ACL) dissolved its vital programs for older adults and disabled people scattered across other agencies with little clarity or accountability. This is not administrative streamlining; it is a calculated dismantling of protections and supports, cloaked in the rhetoric of efficiency and reform. SAMHSA – a pillar of the country's behavioral health system, responsible for coordinating addiction services, crisis response and community mental health care – is being gutted, threatening programs such as the 988 crisis line and opioid treatment access. These moves reflect not just austerity, but a broader governmental strategy of manufactured confusion. By dissolving the very institutions tasked with upholding the rights and needs of disabled and low-income people, the federal government is laying the groundwork for a more expansive – and less accountable – system of carceral 'care'. This new era of psychiatric control is being marketed as a moral imperative. Supporters insist there is a humanitarian duty to intervene – to 'help' people who are suffering. But coercion is not care. Decades of research show that involuntary (forced) psychiatric interventions often lead to trauma, mistrust, and poorer health outcomes. Forced hospitalization has been linked to increased suicide risk and long-term disengagement from mental health care. Most critically, it diverts attention from the actual drivers of distress: poverty, housing instability, criminalization, systemic racism and a broken healthcare system. The claim that we simply need more psychiatric beds is a distraction. What we need is a complete paradigm shift – away from coercion and toward collective care. Proven alternatives already exist: housing-first initiatives, non-police and peer-led crisis response teams, harm reduction programs, and voluntary, community-based mental health services. These models prioritize dignity, autonomy and support over surveillance, control and confinement. As Liat Ben-Moshe argues, prisons did not simply replace asylums; rather, the two systems coexist and evolve, working in tandem to surveil, contain and control marginalized populations. Today, reinstitutionalization is returning under a more therapeutic facade: 'wellness farms', court diversion programs, expanded involuntary commitment. The language has changed, but the logic remains the same. This moment demands resistance. We must reject the idea that locking people up is a form of care. These proposals must be named for what they are: state-sanctioned strategies of containment, rooted in ableism, racism and the fear of nonconformity. Real public health does not rely on force. It does not require confining people or pathologizing poverty. It means meeting people's needs – through housing, community care, healthcare and support systems that are voluntary, accessible and liberatory. As budget negotiations in New York continue to drag on – with expansions to involuntary commitment still on the table – and as RFK Jr advances carceral care proposals at the federal level, we face a critical choice: will we continue the long history of institutional violence, or will we build something better – something rooted in justice, autonomy and collective wellbeing? The future of mental health care – and of human dignity itself – depends on our answer. Jordyn Jensen is the executive director of the Center for Racial and Disability Justice at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
