FILE - The Oregon Department of Human Services building, which houses the Oregon Health Authority offices, in Salem, Ore., on March 18, 2017. The Trump administration cut $117 million in Oregon health grants, impacting public health, equity programs, crisis lines and respiratory illness investigations.
Bradley W. Parks / OPB
The Oregon Health Authority said Thursday the Trump administration has canceled roughly $117 million in COVID-era grants.
It’s part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services plan to cut nearly $12 billion in health care grants for state and local health departments nationwide.
Some of the grants were not scheduled to end for more than a year, according to OHA.
The cuts include public health dollars, according to Sarah Lochner, executive director of the Oregon Coalition of Local Health Officials. She said that’s money that counties were using to investigate respiratory illness outbreaks in places like nursing homes and shelters.
“They either have to decide to lay people off immediately, while this is sorted out, or they have to figure out how to come up with the extra money to keep people on staff, until this is figured out,” Lochner said.
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According to OHA, one grant that was cut had helped establish its Equity Office, which provided technical assistance and training to rural health care providers, tribes, local public health departments and other organizations on how to improve health in communities experiencing health inequities.
The canceled grants also include funding for the 988 crisis line and for substance use treatment and recovery.
In a press release, OHA said it will continue to evaluate the impacts of the cuts, including whether they are legal.
Lochner said counties across Oregon are already facing a difficult budget cycle due to inflation.
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She said that’s making it harder to manage these unexpected cuts.
“Not only does this affect counties in their ability to provide for their employees and to provide services, but ultimately it comes down to providing for the health of the community,” Lochner said. “We are all safer when public health has the tools it needs to contain communicable diseases.”
On Thursday, HHS also announced its plans to lay off 10,000 full-time workers and consolidate its agencies, which include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health.
