HHS budget proposal eliminates CDC's chronic disease, global health centers in favor of new "MAHA" agency
CBSN
The Department of Health and Human Services' budget request for the 2026 fiscal year consolidates the department's 28 divisions to 15 to make way for a new "institution of public health."
The new agency, the Administration for a Healthy America, has a $20.6 billion budget designed to support Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" agenda. That includes taking over — and significantly reducing — funds for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's chronic disease and global health centers along with some of the institutes that are currently part of the National Institutes of Health.
The Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA, says it will take a "root cause" approach to chronic disease prevention, according to the agency's budget request, released last Friday. But the budget proposes cutting funding for all programs in the CDC's chronic disease center and would make significant cuts to existing primary care, mental health and environmental health programs.
