Summary: The Trump administration said it will cut $11 billion in grants from the Department of Health and Human Services, but a judge has temporarily paused it, while Tennessee’s leaders are preparing for what could be big cuts to its health funding.
1. How much funding will Tennessee lose if the $11 billion in cuts proceed?
A: The Tennessean reported that Tennessee public health services stand to lose grants of more than $224 million that are allocated to health programs.
That figure comes from a DOGE database listing funds for Tennessee that have been canceled.
But it’s unclear if those figures are accurate, and the Tennessee health officials haven’t provided details about how these cuts will affect Tennesseans.
Democratic attorneys general of 23 states and DC filed the lawsuit to block the $11 billion in cuts, saying the HHS lacks the authority to claw back the funding from states for health programs.
The grant funding was allocated during the pandemic, and was being used by states to track, prevent and control infectious diseases, including measles and bird flu, as well as track mental health services and fund addiction treatment.
The district judge in Rhode Island paused the cuts while the case plays out.
2. How much money does Tennessee actually get in health funding?
A: Open The Books went through the spending and found the state of Tennessee got $22 billion in grants from HHS in the last two years.
The vast majority — $19.7 billion — is for Medicaid.
That leaves $1.1 billion for the TN Dept of Human Services for child care and other social services, $340 million to TN Dept of Children’s Services for foster care and adoption assistance, child care grants and then $322 million to the TN Dept of Health — that’s the spending that might be cut.
The state Depts of education, agriculture, health and human services also got $4.5 billion from USDA for supplemental nutrition assistance programs for children and others.
Health Dept. got another $232 million from the USDA for WIC — Special Supplemental Program for Women Infants and Children.