$300 million in federal health care cuts will be 'devastating' to New York, Gov. Hochul says

County health departments in Nassau, Suffolk and across the state will be affected by a $300 million funding cut from the federal government, putting mental health and addiction programs at risk, as well as those that help battle infectious disease, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday evening.

Hochul vowed to "fight them tooth and nail" to hold onto the funding.

In a statement, she said the Department of Health and Human Services informed her office on Tuesday that it will cut more than $300 million from the state Health Department, Office of Addiction Supports and Services and the Office of Mental Health.

"These include funds that county health departments across New York are planning to use to fight disease and keep people safe," Hochul said. "At a time when New York is facing an ongoing opioid epidemic, multiple confirmed cases of measles and an ongoing mental health crisis, these cuts will be devastating."

The funding being cut  — $11.4 billion overall nationally — was first allocated by Congress to help state and local health departments battle the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic slowed, the funds were used for other health-related programming.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago," the agency said in a statement.

Health departments in Suffolk and Nassau counties did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

 In an email to Newsday, the state Health Department said it is "reviewing these funding cuts for potential impacts."

Hochul said no state will be able to restore the "massive federal funding cuts" proposed by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency and the Republican-controlled Congress.

"They are trying to rip apart the social safety net that lifts families out of poverty and gives everyone a shot at a middle-class life," Hochul said. "These cuts aren't just numbers on a page — they're going to hurt real people in every corner of New York."

The funding cuts arrived more than one month after the Trump administration cut funds to the World Trade Center Health Program, including a contract to collect data to compare cancer rates of New York City firefighters to first responders in other cities, and fired multiple employees. The decision was reversed following backlash, Newsday reported at the time.

The federal government recently terminated a slew of other health-related grants, including cuts to research on HIV prevention, youth suicide and cancer.

With AP