AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) President and CEO David J. Skorton, MD, and Chief Public Policy Officer Danielle Turnipseed, JD, MHSA, MPP, issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget request. The proposal includes funding recommendations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and proposals concerning Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs critical to the health of communities nationwide:
“As the AAMC reviews President Biden’s FY 2025 budget request, we appreciate the administration’s attempts to preserve funding for federal programs and initiatives that are key to improving the nation’s health, but we are concerned that the budget request underinvests in the nation’s health and public health infrastructure. Federal funding is integral to so many areas where our AAMC-members lead and serve the community such as medical research, clinical care, programs focused on growing the health care workforce, and access to care. It is crucial that the budget is adequately funded.
For example, while we appreciate the targeted mandatory increases proposed for certain types of NIH-funded research, we note that the number of promising research proposals continues to far outpace the resources available across the agency and across the diverse array of health challenges facing families everywhere. To improve the health of patients and communities, and to support scientists in advancing life-changing preventive strategies, diagnostics, therapeutics, and cures, we must ensure robust, sustained funding increases for NIH’s base budget. Continuing to fund NIH as a key national priority not only will help Americans live longer, healthier lives, but it also will support local and regional economic growth nationwide and bolster our global competitiveness.
The AAMC, along with nearly 400 organizations, urges Congress to invest at least $51.3 billion for the NIH’s base budget in FY 2025, in addition to any funding for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). This will allow scientists at medical schools, teaching health systems and hospitals, and other labs nationwide to continue making great strides against diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, and other common health conditions.
We are grateful to the President for his ongoing commitment to preserving access to health care by protecting and strengthening both the Medicare and Medicaid programs. We are thankful the budget request once again avoids dire cuts to hospitals and providers and thus helps ensure access to care for patients who rely on federal support of safety net programs. It is critically important that policymakers continue to build on recent bipartisan investment in physician training to strengthen and diversify our health care workforce. Medicare-supported graduate medical education (GME) is critical for training more physicians to address the looming physician shortage in our country. We must increase federal support for GME. We also greatly appreciate the President’s ongoing dedication to preserving and strengthening the Medicaid program, which continues to serve as a vital source of coverage and care for millions of low-income patients.
Additionally, the AAMC emphasizes the need to expand investment in HRSA’s health professions programs, including Title VII and Title VIII workforce development programs, diversity training programs, and the Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program. These programs are a key complement to Medicare GME by helping to shape the health workforce across disciplines and at all stages of the medical education continuum. Though the targeted increases proposed for some of the health professions are long overdue, now more than ever, a robust commitment to funding the full range of HRSA workforce programs will be needed to address pervasive workforce challenges that impede patient access to care. The AAMC and an alliance of more than 90 national organizations dedicated to training a health care workforce that meets the needs of all patients recommended funding of at least $1.51 billion for the HRSA Title VII and Title VIII programs for FY 2025. These programs play an essential role in connecting students from rural, underrepresented, and disadvantaged backgrounds to health careers by supporting recruitment, education, training, and mentorship opportunities, as well as innovative and varied education and training experiences to expose providers to backgrounds and perspectives other than their own.
It is disappointing that the budget proposes a $75 million (8 percent) decrease to the Veterans Affairs Medical and Prosthetics Program below the FY 2024 funding level, which would curtail critical research that benefits our nation’s veterans and many others.
We recognize that these insufficient funding levels are likely necessitated by the wholly impractical discretionary spending caps in FY 2025. However, to advance the health of our nation, we must prioritize robust investments in these areas and more.
Finally, the AAMC is concerned that the President’s budget request does not take into account the real differences between physician’s offices and teaching health system and hospital outpatient departments, and that the proposed cuts to hospital outpatient department payments from commercial insurers would result in limiting patient access to care. We look forward to working with the administration and policymakers to support the unique needs of teaching health systems and hospitals and the complex patients that they serve.
It is often said you can determine a nation’s priorities by examining its budget and understanding what is funded. While we see commitment in many areas of the nation’s key medical and health issues, we must finish the work at hand and find more resources on the remaining priorities. We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to build on the President’s budget request to ensure substantial investment in critical federal programs and initiatives that improve the health of patients, families, and communities everywhere.”