The White House released its planned 2026 budget for the Department of Health and Human Services on Friday.
President Donald Trump's budget proposes $94.7 billion in discretionary budget authority for HHS in 2026, a 27.5% decrease from the $130.7 billion for HHS requested by President Joe Biden in 2025.
Under Biden, HHS' budget increased by 38% and staffing by 17%, the report said.
Importantly to critics of planned cuts to Medicaid in a budget currently being considered by the Senate, the 2026 proposed budget does not include changes to spending on Medicare and Medicaid.
WHY THIS MATTERS
America spends nearly one-third of the federal budget on healthcare, but life expectancy has declined and chronic disease is on the rise, the report said.
Because of this, the report said, "... we need to embrace radical change."
Many of the changes outlined in the budget proposal were announced by HHS earlier this year.
These include consolidating 28 operating divisions to 15, closing five regional offices and reducing the HHS workforce by at least 10,000 staffers.
The reduction in workforce will bring HHS back to about 90% of its pre-COVID-19 staffing levels, saving taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion per year, the report said.
Agencies such as the Health Resources and Services Administration and some programs of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be unified in a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA.
The AHA would administer $14 billion in discretionary program funding to address the chronic disease epidemic, the budget proposal said.
Other funding includes $728 million for research on environmental toxins and safe water, $240 million to the Food and Drug Administration for Make America Healthy Again priorities for nutrition and safety of the food supply, and $7.9 billion to provide healthcare to over 2.8 million American Indians and Alaskan Natives.
Reforms are planned to modernize Head Start, a program that serves 675,000 children and parents.
Funding for the National Institutes of Health would be reduced from $48.5 billion in 2025 to $27.5 billion, according to WRAL News.
The CDC budget would be cut from more than $9 billion to just over $4 billion, and funding for the FDA would be cut from about $7 billion to just over $6.5 billion, the WRAL news report said.
The budget targets fraud and abuse in a program called Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control. HCFAC gets $2.6 billion in 2026.
THE LARGER TREND
In March, HHS announced the new AHA that combines the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health into a single entity.
When combined with HHS' other efforts for downsizing, the restructuring is expected to result in a reduction of the workforce from from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees.
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org