BBC Gossip
  • Home
  • Health
  • News
  • Crime
  • Local News
  • People
  • Guest Post
BBC Gossip
BBC Gossip
  • Home
  • News
  • Health
  • People
  • Celebrities
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Finance
  • Guest Post
Home Lessons Learned from AP’s Study on the Impact of Federal Public Health Budget Cuts on US Communities
  • Local News

Lessons Learned from AP’s Study on the Impact of Federal Public Health Budget Cuts on US Communities

    Takeaways from AP’s report on how federal public health cuts are affecting communities across the US
    Up next
    R.I.P. Valerie Mahaffey: ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Young Sheldon’ Star Dead at 71
    Valerie Mahaffey Passes Away at 71: ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Young Sheldon’ Actress Remembered
    Published on 31 May 2025
    Author
    BBC Gossip

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A wide range of individuals and programs focused on maintaining public health are disappearing in America. The state and local health departments, responsible for essential yet often unnoticed tasks such as restaurant inspections, monitoring water contaminants, managing disease outbreaks, and other vital activities aimed at safeguarding individuals and communities, are facing significant cutbacks.

    Experts suggest that the Trump administration’s reduction in health expenditures is unparalleled. Approximately $11 billion in direct federal funding has been withdrawn, leading to the elimination of 20,000 jobs within national health agencies that support local public health initiatives to some extent. Furthermore, there are proposed cuts totaling billions more.

    According to public health officials, these reductions are diminishing the entire public health system compared to its previous status, jeopardizing even routine operations, particularly at a time when the country is confronting threats from diseases like measles, pertussis, and avian influenza.

    The moves reflect a shift away from the very idea of public health: doing the work that no individual can do alone to safeguard the population as a whole.

    Here are some takeaways from The Associated Press examination of how federal cuts to public health are affecting communities and people across the United States.

    Disease prevention is unseen — and ignored

    Prevention work is low key. It’s impossible to identify who was saved because, if it goes well, the person never knows when they’ve fended off a mortal threat with the invisible shield of public health.

    The health department in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, for example, has run a mobile clinic that it brings to high schools to ensure students are up-to-date on shots for diseases like measles and polio. Those shots help both the student and the wider community stay healthy — if enough people are vaccinated.

    U.S. health departments run programs to reduce suicides and drug overdoses, improve prenatal health and help people stop smoking. They educate people about health and test for and treat diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis. Some, including Mecklenburg, operate medical and dental clinics too.

    The work departments do is also cost effective, experts have found. For every dollar spent on childhood immunizations, the country is estimated to save $11; on tobacco cessation, $2-$3; on asthma control, $70.

    Chaos in Washington puts ‘lives at risk’

    State and local health departments depend on federal money and support. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sends about 80 percent of its budget to states and local communities and helps those departments with its expertise and other resources.

    When the Trump administration pulled $11 billion from state and local health departments without warning in March, then laid off thousands of people at CDC a week later, public health leaders said the cuts delivered a serious blow to communities across the country.

    All eight employees dedicated to the mobile vaccine program in Mecklenburg were laid off. Nine disease intervention specialists in Columbus, Ohio, were let go as the department prepared to address a measles outbreak. Nashville had to end a program offering free flu and COVID tests.

    Meanwhile, tobacco hotlines, early intervention programs for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, and programs to prevent drowning are all being affected in states and communities because CDC teams were laid off.

    A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said HHS is reorganizing what he said were “broken systems” and rejected “the implication that HHS has turned its back on urgent health threats.”

    HHS justified the grant cancellations by saying the money was for COVID and the pandemic is over. But most of the cuts were in areas that are especially important given today’s health threats, including epidemiology and laboratory capacity as well as immunizations.

    Connecticut’s state health commissioner told a Democratic congressional hearing the current uncertainty “puts lives at risk.”

    Public health funding is going bust — and about to get worse

    The new cuts are especially damaging because health departments are funded differently than other government agencies meant to protect the public: Funding pours in during emergencies and slows to a relative trickle when they subside. Public health leaders often cite the contrast with fire departments, which are kept ready at all times, not scrambling to find firefighters and fire trucks when houses are already burning.

    A temporary surge of money during the pandemic allowed some health departments to expand and strengthen programs. But by early this year, most of that money had disappeared, along with other COVID-era grants across the nation — some because they ended and some because the government rescinded them. Departments were again left brittle and vulnerable.

    In Chicago, one-time COVID grants made up 51% of the health department budget, and their ending will push staff numbers below pre-pandemic levels — slowing responses to outbreaks and forcing officials to scale back food safety, violence prevention and other programs.

    In Mecklenburg, the department lost 180 employees as COVID funds dried up. It also lost a wastewater monitoring partnership with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte that helped the county react quickly to changing COVID variants and could have also been used to detect new threats like bird flu.

    The cuts are not over.

    The Trump administration has proposed cutting billions more from CDC’s budget, enough to cut the agency’s spending in half. CDC sends about 80 percent of its budget to states and local communities

    Public health leaders warn the the relentless cuts to the system leave departments unable to respond to new pandemics and old diseases returning across the United States.

    ___

    Ungar reported from Charlotte and Louisville, Kentucky, and Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press reporters Mary Conlon in Washington and Kenya Hunter in Atlanta contributed to this report.

    Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

    You May Also Like
    Boulder police arrest 28-year-old man allegedly connected to series of assaults, threats involving chain
    • Local News

    28-Year-Old Man Arrested by Boulder Police in Connection to String of Assaults and Threats Involving Chain

    BOULDER, Colo. — The Boulder Police Department arrested a 28-year-old man allegedly…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    New execution methods may soon come to Florida. Here’s why
    • Local News

    Reasons for Potential Introduction of New Execution Methods in Florida

    In Tallahassee, Florida, starting next month, the state will have the option…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    Longtime State Department spokesman, diplomat Richard Boucher, dies at 73
    • Local News

    Richard Boucher, a diplomat and long-serving State Department spokesman, passes away at 73 years old

    Richard Boucher, a long-time spokesman for the State Department and former assistant…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    After decades in the US, Iranians arrested in Trump’s deportation drive
    • Local News

    Iranians living in the US for many years detained in Trump’s efforts to deport them

    Donna Kashanian, also known as Mandonna, had been living in the U.S.…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    21-year-old motorcyclist arrested after crash that killed passenger, shut down southbound I-25 in Denver
    • Local News

    A 21-year-old motorcyclist was taken into custody following an accident that resulted in the death of a passenger and closed the southbound lanes of I-25 in Denver.

    In Denver, a motorcyclist was taken into custody after being involved in…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    Dave Parker, hard-hitting outfielder nicknamed 'the Cobra,' dies at 74
    • Local News

    Baseball Legend ‘The Cobra’ Dave Parker Passes Away at 74

    Dave Parker, nicknamed “the Cobra,” played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati, Milwaukee,…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    'Return to Nature' Funeral Home
    • Local News

    Owner of Penrose funeral home gets 20-year jail term for scamming US government and clients

    DENVER — A funeral home co-owner in Penrose has been sentenced to…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    Canton police: 'Suspicious circumstances' in case of missing 26-year-old Ryan Godbey
    • Local News

    Canton Police Investigate Suspicious Circumstances in Disappearance of 26-Year-Old Ryan Godbey

    Ryan Godbey’s last contact with family members was on June 19 and…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    Canton police: Suspect charged after Aultman Hospital employee shot while on duty
    • Local News

    Charges Filed Against Suspect in Shooting of Aultman Hospital Employee by Canton Police

    James Flair has been charged with three counts of felonious assault and…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    At Hermès, woven leather and quiet confidence set the tone for Paris menswear
    • Local News

    Hermès’ Paris Men’s Fashion Show Embraces Woven Leather and Subtle Confidence

    PARIS – While much of Paris Fashion Week chased spectacle, Hermès chose…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    Tropical Depression Two forms in the Gulf, expected to strengthen
    • Local News

    New tropical depression in Gulf likely to get stronger

    Breaking news from Orlando, Florida – A tropical depression has emerged in…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025
    Here's a look at the celebrities attending Jeff Bezos' wedding in Venice
    • Local News

    Celebrities who will be present at Jeff Bezos’ wedding in Venice

    Here’s a look at the who’s who of the Bezos-Sánchez Bezos nuptials.…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 28, 2025

    Recent Posts

    • Surprising explanation for why a mother provided cannabis-infused treats to her 6-year-old child
    • People addicted to drugs loitering in entrances, used needles scattered around, and an increase in drug sellers near the SNP’s drug consumption facility.
    • Sydney Sweeney Named the Most Popular Person at Bezos’ Wedding After Dancing Late with Tom Brady
    • Kevin Proctor, a retired NRL player, experiences a severe knockout at a contentious RUNIT competition in Dubai.
    • Lizzo proudly shows off her results from using Ozempic in a small swimsuit after being honest about using it for weight loss.
    Stunning reason why mother gave marijuana edibles to 6-year-old daughter
    • US

    Surprising explanation for why a mother provided cannabis-infused treats to her 6-year-old child

    Deanna Sue Woods, 36, was sentenced to prison on Wednesday after allegedly…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    Addicts slumped in doorways, discarded needles and more dealers, life beside SNP's drugs consumption room
    • News

    People addicted to drugs loitering in entrances, used needles scattered around, and an increase in drug sellers near the SNP’s drug consumption facility.

    Slumped in a doorway surrounded by drugs paraphernalia an addict lies collapsed…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    Sydney Sweeney Labeled 'Most Sought-After Person' At Bezos' Wedding After 'Dancing Till 2am' With Tom Brady
    • Entertainment

    Sydney Sweeney Named the Most Popular Person at Bezos’ Wedding After Dancing Late with Tom Brady

    The blonde bombshell is understood to have been the “most sought-after…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    Former NRL veteran Kevin Proctor was knocked out during a controversial 'run it straight' event
    • AU

    Kevin Proctor, a retired NRL player, experiences a severe knockout at a contentious RUNIT competition in Dubai.

    Kevin Proctor, a former NRL player, was recently knocked out by Jordan…
    • BBC Gossip
    • June 29, 2025
    BBC Gossip
    • Home
    • Privacy Policy
    • News
    • Local News
    • Health
    • Crime
    • Guest Post