A leaked Office of Management and Budget document reveals drastic plans by Kennedy to slash $40 billion from the department’s budget, a reduction of nearly one-third.
The cuts, outlined in a 64-page internal document, fundamentally restructure HHS and dismantle major agencies and programs vital to public health and scientific research.
Leaked HHS budget projects $40B in cuts, ACA subsidies expire
Key casualties include the HRSA, SAMHSA, AHRQ, NIH, CMS, CDC and FDA. The National Institutes of Health faces an added 40% budget cut, shrinking from $47 billion to $27 billion, severely undermining biomedical research.
HHS has already eliminated 10,000 positions and announced that was just the beginning of a planned reduction, saying in a press release, “The current 82,000 full-time employees will be reduced to 62,000.”
- The FDA will decrease its workforce by approximately 3,500 full-time employees.
- The CDC will decrease its workforce by approximately 2,400 employees.
- The NIH will decrease its workforce by approximately 1,200 employees.
- CMS will decrease its workforce by approximately 300 employees.
- Ten regional offices will become five, a tool to get people to quit rather than move.
Kennedy also proposes to no longer subsidize Affordable Care Act Marketplace premiums – effectively ending insurance coverage for an estimated 4 million people and significant revenue losses for hospitals, especially in rural communities.
The implications are stark: the U.S. risks reversing decades of progress in disease prevention, health equity, and medical innovation.
Vulnerable The only real hope for the US’ public health system rests with the Judicial branch of government.
