HHS cuts stall Helene recovery efforts in North Carolina mountains
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The federal government's gutting of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services forced Buncombe County to halt a door-to-door survey meant to aid its Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Why it matters: The move has forced the county to find a new way to determine outstanding needs in the community six months after Helene tore up the region.
Driving the news: Buncombe County learned Tuesday, just one day before the survey was set to begin, that the federal government had fired the 16 CDC employees assisting with the effort.
- The county plans to find another way to obtain the data it intended to gather as part of its Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) survey, but the CDC employees' termination could delay its ability to do so.
What they're saying: "Right now we're going to be working on how we pivot and still work to obtain this information," Buncombe County public health director Ellis Matheson told Axios.
- "This information is very important, and we want the community to understand that we are committed to understanding their needs and finding ways to serve them and help our community recover and be resilient."
Zoom in: The planned survey included 30 questions, all on the impact the storm has had on residents' health care access and economic status.
- The group planned to conduct more than 200 surveys to determine whether residents had lost their jobs, have health insurance and access to care, and other information that will "help us strengthen our community," Matheson said.
- In addition to 16 CDC employees, the CASPER team was made up of 17 N.C. Department of Health and Human Services employees and 25 from Buncombe County, per Matheson.
Catch up quick: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said last week that department layoffs would focus on "paring away excess administrators while increasing the number of scientists and frontline health providers," Axios' Maya Goldman reported.
- Administrators and communications professionals — including entire offices — were among the 10,000 civil servants who lost their jobs on Tuesday, as were policy experts, mid-level program directors, scientists and other front-line workers.
- Also last week, the Trump administration terminated billions in federal health care grants, including $11.4 billion that the CDC expects to claw back from the states.
- COVID-19 testing, vaccination and initiatives to bridge health disparities were among the areas that CDC funding was directed toward, HHS confirmed to Axios.
Threat level: As a result of federal funding cuts, North Carolina's state health department said last week that more than 80 jobs are impacted and as much as $230 million in funding is at risk, according to presentation materials obtained by Axios.
- Infectious disease monitoring and response efforts, along with mental health and substance use disorder services, are among the areas that could also be impacted, state health department presentation materials note.
What's next: N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson was among a group of state attorneys general who filed a lawsuit this week against the federal government for its health care funding cuts.
- "These funding cuts will cause immediate and dire harm to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, local public health departments across the state, and community-based organizations," Jackson said in a release.
- "Health departments may need to end public health programs and lay off staff, ultimately making it harder for North Carolinians to get the health care they need."
- The group requested an emergency restraining order to reverse the cuts.