- Gut the NIH budget: this one also is probably DOA
AAOS opposes a proposed Administration action to slash the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by 12%, from $39.1 billion this year to $34.4 billion in 2020. Under this plan, the National Institute of Arthritis & Musculoskeletal & Skin Diseases would see a deeper cut of $84 million, or 13.9%, from $605 million in 2019 to $521 million in 2020.
These cuts are highly unlikely. Congress likes science funding. It has boosted NIH funding by small amounts each year after the Administration proposed cuts.
AAOS also opposes a budget proposal to kill off the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), move its functions into the National Institutes of Health under the name “National Institute for Research on Safety and Quality,” and slash its budget 24% from $338 million to $255,960.
- Expand cheap health insurance policies with little coverage: DOA
Another Trump budget proposal without a chance of becoming law is described in the budget as “a path for States and consumers to be relieved from many of the PPACA’s (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, e.g., Obamacare) insurance rules and pricing restrictions that have resulted in one-size-fits-all plans with soaring premiums and deductibles. This would allow people to buy insurance plans that work for them and that are fairly priced, a substantial benefit to middle class families who do not receive coverage through the workplace.”
In plain English: Trump wants to let states write cheap insurance policies with bare-bones coverage. It would then fall to the physician’s office to tell patients that their painful back, hip, or knee isn’t covered by their plan or isn’t covered because it’s a pre-existing condition. The Democratic majority in the House won’t let this happen.
