Lowering drug prices, expanding access to reproductive healthcare, and improving public health preparedness are a few of the core priorities HHS aims to tackle in its fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget.
“This President’s budget introduced today doubles down on the investments that made the comeback of our jobs, our economy, and our health possible. It lays out a vision for a nation that invests in its most vulnerable, fosters innovation, and protects Americans’ access to the care [they] need,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra during a press conference on Monday.
Becerra also stressed the budget’s goals of ensuring Medicare solvency “beyond our lifetime” and continuing the transition from a healthcare system focused on illness to one that prioritizes wellness.
In total, the HHS FY 2025 budget includes $130.7 billion in discretionary funding and $1.7 trillion in mandatory proposed budget authority. A breakdown of that funding by major agency includes:
- Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response: $3.8 billion, an increase of $138 million above FY 2023
- CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry: $19.8 billion, $4.6 billion above FY 2023
- CMS: $7.6 billion, $692 million above FY 2023
- FDA: $7.2 billion, $495 million above FY 2023
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA): $16.3 billion, $2 billion above FY 2023
- Indian Health Service (IHS): $8.2 billion, $1.3 million over FY 2023
- NIH: $50.1 billion in discretionary and mandatory funding, an increase of $2.4 billion above FY 2023
- Substance Use And Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): $8.1 billion, an increase of $612 million above FY 2023
Because Congress has not yet established final discretionary funding levels for FY 2024, discretionary funding comparisons are against FY 2023, and mandatory funding comparisons are drawn against FY 2024 current law levels.
Expanding Coverage, Lowering Drug Costs
Building on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, the 2025 budget seeks to cap the cost of insulin at $35 per prescription per month for those with commercial insurance and to accelerate the “pace of negotiation” with drug manufacturers, starting those discussions sooner after a product’s launch.
In addition, it proposes extending inflation rebates (a drug’s list price cannot exceed the increase in inflation) and the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap on prescription drug costs — IRA protections that aim to support Medicare beneficiaries — for commercial plans.
This budget also seeks to make permanent the enhanced premium tax credits for plans on the Affordable Care Act’s health exchanges. The tax credits, passed under the American Rescue Plan Act, currently extend through 2025.
It would also extend “Medicaid-like” coverage to low-income residents of states that have not taken up Medicaid expansion, enabling another 1.5 million Americans to have access to healthcare coverage, Becerra said.
Medicare, Behavioral Health, Suicide Prevention
Importantly, the FY 2025 budget aims to extend “Medicare solvency indefinitely by directing revenues from tax code reforms and an amount equivalent to the Medicare drug reform savings into the Part A trust fund,” according to the budget document.
It also includes more than $20.8 billion in behavioral health funding across the department — $2.2 billion more than in FY 2023 — which Becerra said includes funding to grow the number of behavioral healthcare providers by 12,000, including psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and peer support specialists.
In addition, the 2025 budget includes $602 million for SAMHSA’s 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a $100 million increase over FY 2023 to grow public awareness and increase technical assistance support; and proposes $50 million in new funding for Project AWARE, a school-based mental health program, an additional $21 million for a CDC program aimed at preventing adverse childhood experiences, and $68 million — $38 million more than in FY 2023 — for CDC’s Comprehensive Suicide Prevention Program, bringing the total number of states involved in the program to 45 plus four tribal organizations.
Maternal Health, Reproductive Health
The budget includes $375 million for programs targeting maternal mortality and maternal health equity, including for IHS to offer culturally relevant maternal healthcare; for NIH to implement an evidence-based initiative program for reducing preventable maternal deaths and related health disparities; and for CDC to support prevention and surveillance.
Also, as part of the agency-wide initiative, HRSA’s proposed budget steers $215 million towards efforts to improve access to pre- and postnatal care, increase maternal care in rural and underserved communities, and expand access to mental healthcare for pregnant and postpartum women.
The proposed budget also includes $390 million for the Title X family planning program, which is a 27% increase over the $104 million proposed in the FY 2023 budget. Title X, as the budget document notes, “is the only federal grant program dedicated to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related health services.”
Public Health Threats, Cybersecurity
Lastly, Becerra acknowledged the “tremendous strides” the Biden administration made during and since the COVID-19 pandemic and underscored the need to prepare for a future public health crisis.
The proposed budget includes $28.9 billion across the agency aimed at “bolster[ing] the nation’s biodefense and public health preparedness and response capabilities,” according to the budget document.
This includes efforts to develop antimicrobial-resistant drugs, improve supply chain monitoring, and integrate 200 data sources across federal, state, and local government agencies to support better data sharing, Becerra said.
Specifically, the budget contains $95 million to increase development and onshoring of medical countermeasures and active pharmaceutical ingredients, $12 million for the FDA to expand its work preventing and responding to medical and food shortages, and $10 million for a new office of supply chain coordination inside HHS.
HHS Deputy Secretary Andrea Palm, MSW, also highlighted the $141 million in funding to expand both internal and external cybersecurity initiatives, noting that the budget establishes a $1.3 billion Medicare incentive program aimed at encouraging hospital adoption of CMS’s recently released cybersecurity practices.
Regarding the recent cybersecurity attack on Change Healthcare, Becerra said the agency has “done everything we can to make sure that no provider says, ‘I can’t get paid,'” but the “private sector has to step up” as well.
“We are asking all those stakeholders, who make probably pretty decent profits in operating these systems to step up … just as we, as part of the federal government, have stepped up,” he added.
Source link : https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/109125
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Publish date : 2024-03-12 10:59:42
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