The Biden Administration unveiled its $5.8 trillion budget request for federal fiscal year (FY) 2023 this week with a proposal that emphasized deficit reduction, additional funding for police and veterans, and flexibility to negotiate new social spending programs. The budget also seeks to boost funding for health, manufacturing and environmental programs while taming a federal deficit that skyrocketed in recent years. Although Congress historically ignores the fiscal details associated with presidential budgets, the American College of Radiology ®(ACR®) is in the process of reviewing the budget for any potential policies that could impact ACR members.
Under the budget proposal, the Departments of Commerce, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Veterans Affairs would get some of the biggest increases. The FY 2023 budget calls for $1.598 trillion in so-called discretionary spending — areas that are not linked with mandatory programs like Social Security — with $813 billion for defense-related programs and $769 billion for domestic spending.
As far as healthcare priorities, the administration has asked for more than $127 billion to fund HHS, a roughly 15% spike from 2022 funding that includes major increases for pandemic preparedness and public health surveillance. The HHS proposal would dedicate $81.7 billion to bolster pandemic preparedness and biodefense, plus $12.1 billion for the National Institutes of Health to research and develop vaccines, tests and treatments for biological threats. The request also includes funds for Biden initiatives, such as broadening the Cancer Moonshot, bolstering mental healthcare and access, and allotting an additional $5 billion to set up the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health.
For more information, contact Josh Cooper, ACR Vice President, Government Relations and Economics Health Policy.