Partisan Battles Put Public Health Programs in Jeopardy

Federal support for public health programs stood at a critical inflection point in 2024, with mounting evidence that political polarization threatens to undermine decades of progress in disease prevention and healthcare access. The O'Neill Institute's analysis of the HIV response highlights a broader pattern affecting America's entire public health infrastructure: an erosion of bipartisan cooperation is creating tangible negative impacts on healthcare delivery and outcomes.

Recent developments illustrate this crisis. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), historically celebrated as one of the most successful public health initiatives in U.S. history, received only a one-year reauthorization in March 2024 instead of its traditional five-year renewal. This shortened timeframe introduces uncertainty for partner countries and threatens program stability. Similarly, Tennessee's rejection of $8.3 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) HIV prevention funding exemplifies how state-level political decisions can directly impact public health services and infrastructure.

The implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), while advancing certain healthcare affordability goals, has created unintended consequences for safety-net providers. Changes to drug pricing and reimbursement structures are affecting 340B program revenues that support critical healthcare services for vulnerable populations.

These challenges emerge against a backdrop of chronic underfunding, with the Prevention and Public Health Fund losing $12.95 billion between FY 2013-2029. This combination of political polarization and resource constraints threatens to create long-lasting negative impacts on healthcare access and population health outcomes, demanding a renewed commitment to depoliticizing essential public health infrastructure and services.

An Erosion of Bipartisan Support

The deterioration of bipartisan cooperation in public health policy represents a significant shift from historical norms that prioritized health outcomes over political ideology. PEPFAR exemplifies this change. Created under President George W. Bush's administration in 2003, PEPFAR has saved over 25 million lives and currently provides HIV prevention and treatment services to millions across 55 countries. Despite this documented success, the program's 2024 reauthorization became entangled in partisan debates over abortion rights.

"I'm disappointed," Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) stated. "Honestly, I was looking forward to marking up a five-year reauthorization, and now I'm in this abortion debate." McCaul added that "a lot of the Freedom Caucus guys would not want to give aid to Africa." The inclusion of abortion rights in the reauthorization debate reflects ongoing polarization within Congress, which has hindered the passage of traditionally bipartisan public health initiatives. This opposition led to an unprecedented short-term reauthorization through March 2025, creating instability for partner countries and threatening program sustainability.

At the state level, Tennessee's decision to reject $8.3 million in CDC HIV prevention funding reflects similar political calculations overshadowing public health considerations. The state's choice to forgo federal support impacts disease surveillance, testing services, and prevention programs that serve people living with HIV and those at risk of acquiring HIV. This rejection of federal funding occurred despite Tennessee ranking 7th among U.S. states for new HIV diagnoses in 2022.

Such decisions mark a stark departure from historical bipartisan support for public health initiatives. Previous health emergencies, from polio to the early HIV epidemic, generated collaborative responses across party lines. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, established in 1990, exemplified this approach, receiving consistent bipartisan support for reauthorization until 2009, its last reauthorization.

The shift away from bipartisan cooperation extends beyond specific programs to affect broader global health initiatives. PEPFAR's instability impacts America's global health leadership position and threatens the progress made in HIV prevention and treatment worldwide. The program's uncertain future affects procurement planning, workforce retention, and long-term strategy development in partner countries, potentially reversing decades of progress in global health security.

Funding Crisis and Infrastructure Impacts

The public health funding landscape reveals a pattern of chronic underinvestment that threatens core infrastructure capabilities. The Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), established under Section 4002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) to provide sustained investment in prevention and public health programs, has lost $12.95 billion between FY 2013-2029 through repeated cuts and diversions. These reductions represent approximately one-third of the fund's originally allocated $33 billion, significantly limiting its ability to support essential public health services.

The CDC faces mounting infrastructure challenges due to stagnant funding. While COVID-19 response funds provided temporary relief, these emergency appropriations have been largely obligated or rescinded. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 rescinded approximately $13.2 billion in emergency response funding from public health agencies, including the CDC, creating a significant funding cliff. Programs facing severe reductions include the Advanced Molecular Detection program, which will revert to its annual base appropriation of $40 million from a one-time supplemental of $1.7 billion, severely limiting disease surveillance capabilities.

State-level impacts manifest in critical staffing shortages and outdated systems. Public health experts estimate that state and local health departments need to increase their workforce by nearly 80%, requiring an additional 26,000 full-time positions at the state level and 54,000 at the local level. The National Wastewater Surveillance System, crucial for early detection of disease outbreaks, faces reduction from $500 million in supplemental funding to a proposed $20 million in FY 2025, threatening its operational viability.

These funding constraints create cascading effects across the public health system. The Public Health Infrastructure Grant program, which has awarded $4.35 billion to strengthen foundational capabilities across 107 state, territorial, and local health departments, expires in FY 2027 without a clear sustainability plan. Similarly, the Bridge Access Program, ensuring COVID-19 vaccine access for 25-30 million adults without health insurance, ended in August 2024, leaving millions without access to updated vaccines. These funding cuts have significantly curtailed prevention services, limiting the CDC's ability to maintain disease surveillance systems and provide timely interventions.

Healthcare Access and Safety Net Impacts

The implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has created unintended consequences for safety-net providers, particularly through its impact on the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Research examining 340B-eligible hospitals reveals concerning trends in charity care provision, with only 9 out of 38 hospitals (23.7%) reporting increases in charity care as a percentage of annual revenues after gaining 340B eligibility. This decline in charity care occurs despite significant revenue increases from 340B participation, raising questions about program effectiveness in expanding healthcare access for vulnerable populations.

Data indicates that hospital participation in the 340B program correlates with substantial revenue growth but diminishing charity care services. The average decrease in charity care provision as a percentage of annual revenues was 14.79% across examined hospitals. This trend is particularly concerning in states with high poverty rates. For example, three West Virginia hospitals—Cabell-Huntington Hospital, Pleasant Valley Hospitals, and Charleston Area Medical Center—reported some of the largest decreases in charity care despite serving a state where 28.1% of people earn less than 150% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) face unique challenges under these changing dynamics. Unlike hospitals, FQHCs must reinvest every 340B dollar earned into patient care or operations to maximize access. However, the IRA's implementation of Medicare drug price negotiations and insulin cost caps affects the rebate calculations that support these reinvestments, potentially reducing available resources for patient care.

Medication access challenges extend beyond 340B implications. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have responded to IRA provisions by adjusting formularies, sometimes excluding medications that previously generated significant rebates. This particularly impacts insulin coverage, where certain products have been dropped from formularies despite the IRA's intent to improve insulin affordability. These decisions create new barriers to medication access for people who rely on safety-net providers for healthcare services.

Public Health Consequences

The convergence of political polarization and funding constraints creates measurable negative impacts on disease prevention efforts, weakening the capacity of public health systems to effectively address emerging and ongoing health threats. Data from the CDC shows that despite a 12% decrease in new HIV diagnoses over the past five years, driven largely by a 30% reduction among young people, progress in reducing new infections has stalled. The lack of sufficient funding, compounded by political challenges, has limited the capacity to expand prevention services, enhance outreach, and maintain necessary treatment programs. The 31,800 new HIV diagnoses reported in 2022 highlight how flat funding and political barriers have hindered further advances. These barriers prevent scaling up successful prevention strategies, limit access to innovative treatments, and constrain efforts to address disparities in vulnerable communities. Notably, significant disparities persist, particularly among gay men across all racial and ethnic groups, transgender women, Black people, and Latino people. These populations continue to face systemic barriers to healthcare access, stigma, and a lack of targeted resources, all of which contribute to ongoing inequities in health outcomes.

Vaccine hesitancy, intensified by political division, threatens population health outcomes. The CDC reports that routine vaccination rates for kindergarten-age children have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, while exemption claims have increased. Nearly three-quarters of states failed to meet the federal target vaccination rate of 95% for measles, mumps, and rubella during the 2022-23 school year, increasing outbreak risks.

Health disparities are exacerbated when political decisions override public health considerations. Tennessee's rejection of CDC funding exemplifies how political choices can disproportionately impact communities already experiencing health inequities by reducing access to essential prevention and treatment services. Such decisions particularly affect regions where HIV rates among transgender women increased by 25%, and Latino gay men now account for 39% of all HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men.

Community health center sustainability faces mounting challenges as funding mechanisms become increasingly unstable. The expiration of COVID-19 emergency funding, combined with uncertain 340B revenues and growing workforce shortages, threatens these essential safety-net providers. Public health experts estimate an 80% workforce gap in state and local health departments, hampering their ability to deliver essential services and respond to emerging health threats.

Uncertain Future Under New Administration

With Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the future of the nation's public health programs remains uncertain. The president-elect’s stance on health policy has historically emphasized deregulation, work requirements, and reductions in safety net programs, and early indications suggest a continuation of these priorities.

The new administration is poised to bring changes that could scale back Medicaid, reduce the Affordable Care Act’s consumer protections, and restrict reproductive health access—all of which have the potential to exacerbate existing health inequities and widen the gap in healthcare access for marginalized populations. Furthermore, the inclusion of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. among Trump’s advisors could undermine public confidence in vaccination campaigns and other science-backed public health interventions.

Although Trump has not explicitly targeted programs like PEPFAR, the Ryan White Program, or other core public health initiatives, the broader agenda of cutting federal funding and shifting health policy decisions to the state level raises significant concerns. These shifts could ultimately weaken the country’s safety net programs, leading to an increase in uninsured rates and preventable health disparities.

The reemergence of a more partisan approach to healthcare policy, especially one with a focus on cost-cutting and minimal regulatory oversight, risks destabilizing public health progress made over the last several decades. Public health stakeholders—ranging from healthcare providers to patient advocates—will need to prepare for a period of heightened uncertainty and potentially significant changes to the public health landscape.

The coming months will likely determine how public health priorities and programs evolve in this new political era. Advocacy groups, healthcare professionals, and policymakers must remain vigilant and ready to respond as the Trump administration shapes its healthcare policy agenda, one that could either sustain or significantly alter the course of public health in the United States. Such shifts threaten to undermine the nation’s public health stability, with repercussions for healthcare costs, access, and the ability to prevent and control emerging health threats.