Colorado health agencies will lose more than $ 230 million in federal subsidies, some of which had already been engaged in programs including response to crisis and peer support for people who recover from dependence.
The Trump Administration withdraws four subsidies from the Ministry of Health and the Public Environment of Colorado which finance the monitoring of COVVI-19 diseases, infantile vaccinations and studies on health disparities, totaling around 200 million dollars, said the senator of the Judy Amabile state, Democrat of Boulder and member of the joint budget committee.
“We are concerned about the fact that this sudden loss of federal funding threatens the capacity of Colorado to follow the trends of COVID-19 and other emerging diseases, to modernize data systems on diseases, respond to epidemics and provide access, awareness and education essential to vaccination and more vulnerable education to future public health crises”, Iodice.
The State Health Department has not confirmed how much the subsidies were worth or if it had committed and spent the money. States had until 2027 to spend certain subsidies, According to the New York Times.
On Monday, the administration of drug addiction and mental health services of the United States Ministry of Health and Social Services and Human Services informed the state health administration on Monday that it would recover four subsidies totaling $ 31.5 million.
The state has already hired around $ 24 million in this money to finance specific programs, but did not spend this money, Bha Allio Eliot spokesperson said on Wednesday. He had until the end of September to allocate and spend the remaining $ 7.5 million.
Trump administration officials announced Tuesday that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Take up $ 11.4 billion in funds related to the trashmost of which have gone to state health services and premises. The CDC will start recovering the funds a month from Monday when it started sending discontinuation of subsidies.
A Samhsa statement said that it would save around $ 1 billion in the remaining pandemic response funds via its conditions. States could spend funds on mental health and drug addiction programs without a specific link with COVID-19, although the pandemic has aggravated the difficulties of certain people with the two problems.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is over, and the HHS will no longer waste billions of dollars from taxpayers who respond to an nonexistent pandemic that the Americans have moved years ago,” the Ministry of Health and Social Services said in a statement.
The providers learned the BHA financing cuts, which were in force on Monday, through the agency email, said Breeah Kinsella, executive director of Colorado Providers Association. But the exact programs that lose money are still not clear.
“No one has any details yet,” she said.
In general, cuts to the treatment and prevention of drug addiction are “horrible” and harm people, said Kinsella, in particular when associated with other reductions instituted by state legislators who work to fill the state budget. However, she said, the providers had already prepared the two state cuts and for the uncertainty of the federal government.
She was convinced that providers were in a “unique position” to absorb financing changes and continue to treat the coloradans who need them – as long as more reductions do not follow.
“It is horrible and tragic,” said Kinsella, “and we are also going to do our best, as are suppliers of substance consumption disorders have always done so.”
The subsidies have helped to finance around 60 mental health and drug addiction programs in the state, including adult services with serious mental illness and young people with hallucinations or delusions, Eliot said. The BHA works with the office of Governor Jared Polis and the Office of the Attorney General of Colorado to determine how he can react, she said.
“In many cases, these are vital programs and services, and we are concerned about the well-being of those who came to count on this support,” she said in a statement.
The Polis office did not answer questions. Lawrence Pacheco, spokesperson General Phil Weiser, said the office “explores options” to maintain funding.
As a general rule, federal agencies only require states to make the money that they have already disbursed if the states violated the terms of a subsidy, as to use it for unprecedented expenses. If Samhsa and the CDC succeed in recovering their funds, this would add to the financial misfortunes of Colorado. The state already faces a Budget dreams of $ 1.2 billion During the coming fiscal year.
Senator Kyle Mullica, a Democrat nurse of Thornton and emergency nurse, said that he supported responsibility and efficiency with taxpayers’ dollars, but cuts are “completely inappropriate”.
“For these cuts to occur without communication, that these cuts occur in such an arbitrary way, I think it is really worrying. I think that makes our communities less safe, that aggravates the results,” he said.
Denver Post journalist Nick Coltrain and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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