Trump administration letter wipes out habit, psychological well being grants : NPR

The Trump administration despatched shockwaves by way of the U.S. psychological well being and drug habit system late Tuesday, sending a whole lot of termination letters, efficient instantly, for federal grants supporting well being companies.

Three sources mentioned they consider whole cuts to nonprofit teams, many offering street-level care to individuals experiencing habit, homelessness and psychological sickness, may attain roughly $2 billion. NPR wasn’t in a position to independently verify the dimensions of the grant cancellation. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMSHA) did not reply to a request for clarification.

“We’re undoubtedly extreme lack of front-line capability,” mentioned Andrew Kessler, head of Slingshot Options, a consultancy agency that works with psychological well being and habit teams nationwide. “[Programs] might should shut their doorways tomorrow.”

Kessler mentioned he has reviewed quite a few grant termination letters from “Salt Lake Metropolis to El Paso to Detroit, all around the nation.”

Ryan Hampton, the founding father of Mobilize Restoration, a nationwide advocacy nonprofit for individuals in and searching for restoration, informed NPR his group misplaced roughly $500k “in a single day.”

“Waking as much as almost $2 billion in grant cancellations means front-line suppliers are compelled to stop overdose prevention, naloxone distribution, and peer restoration companies instantly, leaving our communities defenseless in opposition to a raging disaster,” Hampton mentioned. “This cruelty might be measured in lives misplaced, as restoration facilities shutter and the security web we constructed is slashed in a single day. We’re witnessing the dismantling of our restoration infrastructure in real-time, and the administration can have blood on its arms for each preventable demise that follows.”

Copies of the letter despatched to 2 completely different organizations and reviewed by NPR sign that SAMHSA officers not consider the defunded applications align with the Trump administration’s priorities.

The letter factors to efforts to reshape the nationwide well being system partly by restructuring SAMHSA’s grant program, which “consists of terminating a few of its … awards.”

In accordance with the letter, grants are terminated as of yesterday, Jan.13, including that “prices ensuing from monetary obligations incurred after termination are usually not allowable.”

The Nationwide Affiliation of County Behavioral Well being and Developmental Incapacity Administrators despatched a letter to members saying it believes “over 2,000 grants [nationwide] with a complete of greater than $2 billion” are affected. The group mentioned it is nonetheless working to grasp the “full scope” of the cuts.

This transfer comes on high of deep Medicaid cuts, handed final yr by the Republican-controlled Congress, which have an effect on quite a few psychological well being and habit care suppliers.

Kessler informed NPR he is listening to alarm from care suppliers nationwide that the security web for individuals experiencing an habit or psychological well being disaster may unravel.

“Within the quick time period, there’s going to be extreme harm. We’ll should scramble,” he mentioned.

Regina LaBelle, a Georgetown College professor who served as performing head of the Workplace of Nationwide Drug Management Coverage through the Biden administration, mentioned the SAMHSA grants pay for all times saving companies.

“From first responders to drug courts, continued federal funding fairly actually save lives,” LaBelle mentioned. “The overdose epidemic has been declared a public well being emergency and overdose deaths are lowering. That is no time to tug crucial funding.”

Requests for remark from SAMHSA and the Division of Well being and Human Companies weren’t instantly returned.

This can be a growing story.