What’s at Risk

Significant reductions in HHS preventive and public health programs could undermine America’s ability to protect and improve health in communities. The proposed plan targets initiatives aimed at infectious disease control, chronic disease prevention, maternal and child health, mental health, and health equity:

Infectious Disease Control

The FY2026 budget proposal includes a $3.6 billion reduction in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), narrowing its focus primarily to acute outbreaks, biothreats, and core surveillance activities. While specific details about eliminating the Global Health Center or domestic HIV/AIDS prevention programs are not explicitly confirmed, substantial cuts may significantly impact the CDC's capabilities. Additionally, funding for critical scientific platforms like the CDC’s peer-reviewed journals, Emerging Infectious Diseases and Preventing Chronic Disease, may face elimination, impairing the timely dissemination of vital public health research and intelligence.

A recent American Public Health Association analysis suggests these proposed reductions could impair the nation's responsiveness to emerging threats, leaving the U.S. "largely unprepared" for future pandemics and causing preventable deaths.

Chronic Disease Prevention

The official budget significantly reduces or eliminates numerous CDC chronic disease prevention initiatives, including programs targeting heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer screenings, and tobacco cessation. Essential public health prevention efforts—such as diabetes and asthma prevention, anti-tobacco campaigns, and healthy aging initiatives—face drastic reductions or elimination under this budget.

Maternal and Child Health

The final HHS proposal explicitly calls for eliminating the Title V Maternal & Child Health Block Grant, significantly reducing prenatal care, infant screening, and home-visiting services. Similarly, the budget eliminates the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. The Head Start early childhood program would lose federal funding, removing vital educational opportunities, nutrition, and health screenings for approximately one million low-income children.

The budget also discontinues the CDC’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program, leaving children at risk of lifelong health consequences from unaddressed lead exposure.

Mental Health

The official proposal dismantles the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as an independent entity, integrating it into the new AHA with reduced resources. SAMHSA’s funding decreases by approximately $1.1 billion (about 16%); substantial reductions include community mental health block grants, substance use treatment, and prevention efforts. Such funding losses threaten treatment access for the 1.5 million Americans annually supported by these services and could undermine vital initiatives such as the national 988 suicide and crisis lifeline.

Health Equity

The HHS budget explicitly proposes eliminating the NIH’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) and significantly reducing funding for equity-focused offices such as the Office of Minority Health and the Office on Women’s Health. Essential community initiatives, including the CDC’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grants and the Minority HIV/AIDS Program, are targeted for elimination, disproportionately impacting communities of color, low-income families, and rural populations.

Impacts on Research and Innovation

The official budget includes drastic cuts to biomedical and public health research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding decreases by nearly 40%, from about $45.4 billion in FY2025 to $27.5 billion in FY2026. The NIH’s 27 institutes are proposed to consolidate into five primary areas, significantly disrupting ongoing studies on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and infectious diseases. According to the American Public Health Association, these reductions would halt critical research efforts, delay medical breakthroughs, and adversely affect patients awaiting new therapies.

Additionally, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) would be eliminated, ending federal research into patient safety, healthcare quality, and health system improvements, potentially stagnating future healthcare advancements.

 Such cuts may lead to reduced competitiveness in global biomedical research, enabling nations like China that are currently increasing their R&D funding to gain a strategic advantage in biotech and pharmaceuticals, resulting in long-term negative impacts for U.S. scientific leadership.

Consequences for Healthcare Delivery and Access

Rural communities would be among the hardest-hit by the budget changes. Under the new AHA, programs supporting rural healthcare infrastructure, such as the Rural Hospital Flexibility Grants and Rural Residency Development Program, face elimination or severe reductions. Rural residents would face increased travel distances for emergency care and specialty services, exacerbating health disparities and potentially increasing mortality for time-sensitive conditions.

Reduced federal support would worsen rural healthcare provider shortages, potentially destabilizing local economies, accelerating rural hospital closures, and deepening the rural-urban health divide.

Food and Drug Safety Risks

The budget proposes shifting responsibility for routine food facility inspections from the FDA to individual states, potentially compromising food safety due to varying state-level capabilities and resources. This move could reverse significant public health gains made under the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act, increasing risks of undetected outbreaks from contaminants such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria.

Additionally, the FDA faces approximately a 19% budget reduction, potentially impairing the agency’s capacity to ensure the timely approval and effective oversight of medical products, medications, and devices. This could slow the availability of critical new treatments and raise risks associated with unsafe or inadequately regulated products entering the market.

Less Support for Seniors and People with Disabilities

The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is proposed to be eliminated as an independent agency, significantly reducing or devolving its programs to states. Vital services, including home- and community-based support, caregiver respite programs, nutrition programs for seniors, and elder abuse protections, would be significantly impacted, jeopardizing independent living and the health and safety of older adults and people with disabilities.

Non-HHS Public Health Cuts

EPA budget cuts threaten the safety of drinking water systems and wastewater treatment infrastructure, increasing the risk of waterborne illnesses and chronic conditions linked to environmental contaminants.

Reductions in USDA funding would limit access to essential nutrition programs such as SNAP and WIC, worsening food insecurity and nutrition-related chronic diseases, particularly among vulnerable populations.

Department of Education funding reductions could eliminate critical school health and mental health programs, harming student wellness, development, and long-term health prospects.

Cuts to BIA and IHS budgets further compromise already underfunded healthcare and sanitation infrastructure in Native American communities, significantly widening existing health disparities.

Finally, reduced HUD funding would diminish affordable housing availability, increasing homelessness and housing instability, directly contributing to poorer health outcomes, higher rates of chronic illness, and greater vulnerability to communicable diseases.