Draining the Swamp: Health and Human Services Cuts: Decrease Budgets, Increase Efficiency


TOTAL CUTS to HHS: 17.9% Decrease ($15.1 billion)


Note: Over the past day, you have no doubt have read some pretty outlandish claims about Trump’s budget: everything from “no more public transit!!to “no more disaster relief!!” to “everyone will be homeless have to move to the beach!” With how much hair media on the left is pulling out over the budget proposal, it’s easy to get lost in the headlines and have no idea what exactly is being cut and what effects that will have. That’s why we’ve decided to write up a series — titled “Draining the Swamp” — to cover each department, what exactly is being cut, and what effects (if any) that will have.

Primary cuts hit the budgets of the National Institute of Health and The Office of Community Services. The National Institute of Health will be cut by $5.8 billion. Cuts on discretionary spending for the Office of Community Services will save taxpayers $4.2 billion. With these departmental cuts, a Federal Emergency Response Fund is created to be able to quickly address health outbreaks and epidemics. Multiple leftist publications have claimed that these cuts to HHS would do everything from increase cancer in America to colleges and local businesses. All of this is, of course, false. In terms of cancer care and prevention the private sector has long been the leader in research and progress; in terms of it impacting colleges and local businesses, that argument from NPR (of course) is just the classic and much-repeated misunderstanding of how economics work. All of  President Trump’s cuts to HHS would maintain all vital health services that are necessary while eliminating governmental waste while putting that money directly back in the hands of taxpayers.

Government run programs for health professionals and training programs will be eliminated, saving $403 million; the Administration argues that these bureaucratic programs provide excessive federal jobs while not showing any significant signs of increasing US workforce or even markedly benefiting healthcare in the US. An additional taxpayer savings of $4.2 billion will come by eliminating discretionary programs including the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIGHEAP) and the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), both programs which have damaged the free market and have a history of being abused.

Similarly, there will are reforms to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which will decrease the bureaucratic nature of the department while implementing a $500 block grant that will allow each state to be able to focus better on specific problems they each face.

 

Thanks for sharing!