The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services budget faces millions of dollars in federal funding cuts.
What You Need To Know
- The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is feeling a major financial ripple effect from their divisions from recent federal funding cuts
- Many county health departments continue to evaluate and estimate scale of impact
- COVID-19 funding paid for pandemic resources such as vaccinations and disease monitoring
The Health and Human Services communications director announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will take back nearly $12 billion in COVID-19 money from across the country, including the Tar Heel state.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is over and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” Andrew Nixon said.
A spokesperson from NCDDHS confirmed the likely loss of over 80 jobs and about $100 million in funding.
“This reduction is going to have a real impact on North Carolinians,” Dr. Kelly Kimple, acting director of the NCDHHS Division of Public Health, said.
“On March 25, we received notification that this federal funding was terminated on March 24,” Kimple said.
The notice of termination means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will start recovering funds within 30 days of the initial date of notification.
She explained they’ve identified at least four areas of impact:
- Disease monitoring
- Immunization projects
- Substance Use Disorder services
- The N.C. Immunization Registry
“We’re doing everything possible to help support not only our staff the best way that we can, when we can, but also, the work that we do, because we know it is critical for North Carolinians to continue to protect health and promote health and well-being,” Kimple said.
“I will say that not only is it a significant amount of funding that was reduced, but doing that in an abrupt and sudden way definitely makes it more challenging for us as a state to, to make strategic decisions on how to navigate moving forward,” she said.
Kimple saw the issues from the front lines as she helped shape North Carolina’s COVID-19 response during the pandemic, which taught her the importance of being prepared.
“The funding reductions and infectious disease monitoring is very concerning, especially at a time where we want to be sure we have a strong system to respond to whatever health threat comes our way,” she said.
These federal funding cuts are part of the Trump administration’s broader plan to decrease federal government funding and staffing.
