US health officials reverse course and reinstate $1.9bn to mental health and substance use | Trump administration
U.S. health officials reversed course and began reimposing nearly $2 billion in cuts to mental health and substance use programs Wednesday night, a day after unexpectedly announcing an immediate halt to the programs.
The reversal was a blow to the agenda of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who made aggressive and legally controversial cuts to health care institutions in the first year of the Trump administration and proposed that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) join a new agency he would call the Healthy America Administration (AHA).
There was immediate outcry over the impact of shutting down vital programs that accounted for a quarter of Samhsa’s budget.
The cuts will impact overdose prevention and reversal, mental health and substance use support for children, mental health education and support for first responders, support for pregnant and postpartum women, and recovery support programs.
Some programs received reinstatement letters late on Wednesday night, while others were awaiting official notification that their programs could continue, sources told the Guardian.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the ranking member of the House appropriations committee, appeared to confirm that reversal. expression late Wednesday.
“After national outrage, Secretary Kennedy bowed to public pressure and returned $2 billion in life-saving SAMHSA grants,” DeLauro said. “These are cuts that should not have occurred in the first place,” DeLauro said, “and have created uncertainty and confusion for families and healthcare providers.”
An administration official confirmed this. New York Times The money was refunded but did not say why. It was not immediately clear whether all grants had been restored.
As lawmakers continued to negotiate the federal budget, some suspected the move was a political ploy. “Congress retains authority over the budget, and the Secretary must comply with the law,” DeLauro added in the statement.
“Today, first responders fighting the fentanyl crisis spent planning layoffs instead of helping people,” said Democratic Washington senator Patty Murray. said in x That’s when reports first showed the cuts were being reversed. He said the cuts led to “absurd, senseless chaos” under Kennedy and Trump.
While the reversal would be a victory for agencies that provide substance use and mental health services, U.S. officials could continue to make deep cuts to health programs that millions of Americans rely on, experts said.
“Restoring these funds is a good thing for the American people.” And “We must view these actions as a whole. This administration has demonstrated its political project to systematically dismantle the behavioral health system,” said Dr Sunny Patel, a former senior official at Samhsa and an associate professor at the Thrive Center for Children, Families and Communities in Georgetown.
Patel and Matthew Biel say the administration is making major cuts to budgets and staffing at health care facilities, and that confusion and instability will worsen children’s behavioral health. wrote Wednesday at Health Affairs.
Supporting health amid repeated uncertainty and disruptions “requires caution and sometimes anger,” Patel said. As the reversal shows, he said: “Advocacy works.”
