Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius worries over 'devastating' cuts to research funding

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Hill

03/26/25 8:08 PM ET


Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is concerned about the Trump administration’s recent cuts to research grants through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “I’m worried on a lot of fronts,” Sebelius said during The Hill’s “Health Next Summit.” “The kinds of cuts that were just announced are devastating and will set science back and set research back.”

The Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have eliminated whole agencies and made sweeping cuts to others over the past two months, including to NIH. Recently, the Trump administration announced it would cancel all NIH grants on equity issues, which include work studying HIV and black maternal health.

The administration also recently issued a 15 percent cap on indirect costs of NIH grants. Indirect funding in NIH grants is used to cover overhead and administrative costs at universities and other research institutions.

A federal judge recently ordered the NIH to stop its plans to cut its grant funding amount to universities, hospitals and other institutions following a number of lawsuits from state Democratic attorneys general and the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5216617-former-hhs-secretary-kathleen-sebelius-worries-over-devastating-cuts-to-research-funding/

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Those treatments won't be available for Trump, so they are irrelevant.

If Trump can't have them, no one should.

At least that's what I'm hearing in all of these research cuts. Innovation drives growth and economies. We won't have any.

[bmichaelh]

2. Research saved my life

In 1990, I was diagnosed with lymphoma.
It returned in 2019 and was able to achieve full remission (my third).

3 Things had to happen for me to be successful
1) Senate vote against the repeal of ACA. ACA provides me protection against lifetime limits. When it returned in 2019, I went through 4 unsuccessful treatments.
2) Health provider tried to rescind only drug that worked for me. It was successfully appealed.
3) The drug that worked for me in 2021 was approved by FDA in 2020.

In my case, when lymphoma returns, it get more aggressive and past cancer treatments do not work; so cancer research is important to me.