PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a fiscal year 2026 budget that consolidates divisions and establishes a new agency, the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), with a $20.6 billion budget.
👥 Who’s Involved: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., HHS, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and various health organizations.
📍 Where & When: United States; budget request released last Friday for FY 2026.
💬 Key Quote: “The United States remains the sickest developed nation despite spending $4.5 trillion annually on health care.” — HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard.
⚠️ Impact: The CDC’s budget would be cut nearly in half, with significant reductions to chronic disease, global health, and HIV/AIDS programs, and the NIH faces a 40 percent funding cut.
IN FULL:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has unveiled its fiscal year 2026 budget, proposing a major consolidation of its divisions and introducing a new public health agency, the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA). This reorganization would reduce HHS’s 28 divisions to 15, with the AHA receiving a $20.6 billion budget to support Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
The AHA aims to address the root causes of chronic diseases, shifting focus from individual programs to broader prevention strategies. This restructuring would eliminate the CDC’s Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, which received $1.4 billion in FY 2024. Instead, the AHA would oversee primary care, environmental health, mental health, and nutrition initiatives. Nearly $1 billion of the CDC’s funding would be redirected to the new agency.
The CDC’s overall budget would drop from $9.2 billion in fiscal year 2024 to $4.2 billion. The budget also proposes a 40 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the dissolution of agencies like the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. HIV/AIDS prevention and research programs would be consolidated under the AHA, with funding reduced by nearly $1 billion compared to 2024 allocations.
Global health programs are also affected, with the CDC’s Global Health Center eliminated. Its $711 million FY 2024 budget would be replaced with $239 million for global health protection under a new budget line.
HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said of the budget proposal, “The United States remains the sickest developed nation despite spending $4.5 trillion annually on health care.”
Congressional subcommittees will review the budget before the House and Senate craft their own resolutions later this year.