President's proposed budget disastrous for public health

Public health advocates have called President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for 2019 an assault on health care and devastating to vital public health programs. The proposal is so disastrous and “deeply flawed,” Congress should reject it immediately, according to APHA.

The budget, released Feb. 12 by the White House Office of Management and Budget, outlines the Trump administration’s proposed spending for the upcoming fiscal year. In it, there are extreme cuts to critical public health programs and services.

APHA noted in a Feb. 13 news release that “this request falls in line with the administration’s refusal, since its first day, to adequately fund and protect important health programs and the health of people living in the U.S.”

The proposal fails to fund the $900 million mandatory Prevention and Public Health Fund in fiscal year 2019, a crucial source of funding for many public health programs. It would also greatly reduce funding for Medicaid and Medicare, including reducing Medicaid spending to pre-Affordable Care Act levels, and repeal the ACA.

“Public health agencies have already been operating on shoestring budgets for years, and more cuts will only weaken our nation’s ability to respond to existing and emerging threats to our health,” said Georges Benjamin, MD, executive director of APHA.

Agencies and programs based on science and health take a major hit in the budget.

Continue reading this story from the April 2018 issue of The Nation’s Health.