Don Thompson
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — President Donald Trump’s push to remove a federal catastrophe preparedness program threatens a fund utilized by state well being programs from Republican-led Texas to the Democratic stronghold of California.
The Hospital Preparedness Program was created greater than twenty years in the past in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the lethal anthrax assaults that started days later. The fund has offered practically $2.2 billion to states, territories, major cities, and other entities over the previous 17 years to prepared well being care programs for the subsequent pandemic, cyberattack, or mass-casualty occasion.
Recently, that cash has been used to fight the fowl flu that has sickened at least 70 people within the United States, killed at the least one, and remains a threat. The funds even have been used to answer crises akin to hurricanes, tornadoes, mass shootings, floods, and warmth waves.
But the budget request despatched to Congress by Trump’s funds director, Russell Vought, proposes eliminating this system, saying the hassle “has been wasteful and unfocused” and that chopping it will permit states and cities to “properly” fund their very own preparedness plans. Any motion is presently stalled by the federal government shutdown, which stems from a partisan dispute over expiring well being care subsidies that have an effect on most of the 24 million Americans who buy coverage from Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
Red and blue states say the hospital preparedness funds are important and couldn’t be readily changed with native funds. It’s an instance of how the White House’s efforts to reduce its role in responding to public health and pure disasters have imperiled state and municipal reliance on federal assets to satisfy group wants.
The program “is the main source of government funding for disaster preparedness among hospitals, EMS providers, and other parts of the health care system,” Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Chris Van Deusen stated.
Texas obtained greater than $20 million from the Hospital Preparedness Program this yr, and Van Deusen stated it’s unlikely the state may backfill any federal funding hole within the brief time period for the reason that funds has been finalized by way of August 2027.
The funds assist Texas’ well being suppliers create catastrophe plans and check hospitals’ capability to spice up their capability in an emergency, he stated, whereas enabling the distribution of medical assets and affected person masses so hospitals aren’t overwhelmed throughout disasters. The program, together with state funding, helps the state’s Emergency Medical Task Force, which responded to lethal floods this yr and the Uvalde faculty taking pictures in 2022, amongst many different emergencies.
Georgia, which obtained $13.5 million this yr, “continues to monitor and plan for potential changes to future federal funding while ensuring health care preparedness efforts across Georgia remain strong and sustainable,” stated public well being spokesperson Eric Jens.
A California well being official referred to as the cash very important to making sure native well being care programs can reply to emergencies past their common capability. The program is the one federal funding dedicated to well being care system preparedness for such catastrophes, stated Department of Public Health spokesperson Robert Barsanti.
“Without this funding, California risks losing critical infrastructure for emergency response, weakening its ability to protect lives, maintain continuity of care, and meet federal preparedness benchmarks,” Barsanti stated.
As essentially the most populous state, California receives essentially the most cash — practically $29 million this yr — because it struggles with an enormous funds deficit and fights a operating rhetorical battle with Trump administration officers. The funds go to the state’s public well being division; the California Emergency Medical Services Authority, which coordinates the state’s emergency medical system; well being care associations; and about 60 native entities. Los Angeles County, with greater than 1 / 4 of the state’s inhabitants, obtained a further $11 million, and the University of California system bought $1.2 million.
Neither the White House, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which administers this system below the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nor the Office of Management and Budget responded to repeated requests for remark in regards to the May proposal to chop the Hospital Preparedness Program.
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response has seen an 81% reduction in workers over the previous yr, The New York Times reported. It’s by far the biggest workforce discount at HHS and a part of the broader culling of federal employees below Trump.
Already, HHS has delayed the distribution of this yr’s Hospital Preparedness Program funds by practically three months. The funds had been purported to be accessible to states to be used beginning in July, however the bulk of the cash was not launched till late September. Health officers within the waning days of the Biden administration had wanted to quickly distribute the funds for the nation’s response to the H5N1 fowl flu.
The months-long delay “is yet another example of how changes and uncertainty at the federal level threaten critical public health programs in New York state,” stated Department of Health spokesperson Cadence Acquaviva. Despite well being officers’ greatest efforts, “delays or elimination of funding places New Yorkers at significant risk in the event of a disaster or emergency,” Acquaviva stated.
New York state obtained practically $14 million, and New York City greater than $9 million.
Illinois Department of Public Health spokesperson Jim Leach stated the medical system wants the federal funds to arrange for pure and human-caused disasters of each type, “regardless of the ebb and flow of any single disease.”
Illinois and Chicago obtained a mixed $15 million from the preparedness program.
During emergencies, the state’s federally funded disaster response program “turns hundreds of Illinois hospitals, EMS, and other health care facilities into a single, coordinated system,” Leach stated, including it saves each lives and taxpayer {dollars}. “If there is a natural disaster or an infectious disease outbreak, a state would not be able to react quickly enough without the HPP funds.”
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