The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its recommendations for the budget year that begins October 1, 2026. Congress will now consider these recommendations.
The report lists these priorities:
- Supporting Access to Primary Care: The FY 2027 Budget invests in primary care services with a strong emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention, particularly in medically underserved and rural areas where access to care remains limited.
- Enhancing Maternal and Child Health: The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among high-income countries and addressing the maternity care crisis is a priority for AHA. The Budget invests in programs that provide states and communities with the flexibility to target funding towards the services needed most, including the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.
- Strengthening Mental Health and Combating Substance Use: The Budget proposes to consolidate the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant, the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grant, and the State Opioid Response grant program into a new Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant, which will provide states with enhanced flexibility to respond to local behavioral health priorities.
- Combatting HIV/AIDS: The Budget request continues support for the Ryan White Program, as well as for the Ending the HIV Epidemic in the United States Initiative.
- Strengthening the Health Workforce: The Budget strengthens the health workforce by investing in programs that train and place providers in underserved communities, expand workforce capacity, integrate behavioral health into primary care, and address provider shortages in rural areas.
Paolo del Vecchio, recovery champion and former 30-year director with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, shared these highlights on his LinkedIn page:
- Elimination of SAMHSA
- Total budget cut of $564M ($7.232M to $6.667M)
- Elimination of MH & SU Block Grants and State Opioid Response Grants and combining them into a single “Behavioral Health Innovation Block Grant” with a reduction of $20M
- Elimination of 30 grant programs including: State Consumer & Family Networks (Families as Allies has been the Statewide Family Network for Mississippi for many of the last thirty years), Children and Family, Minority Fellowship Program, Mental Health Crisis Response ($20M), Tribal BH Grants ($56M), Minority AIDS ($118M), Homeless Prevention ($20M), Primary and BH Care Integration ($287M), MH Awareness & Training ($28M), Strategic Prevention Framework ($137M), and many more…
- Major Reduction in the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) program by 2/3 ($25.854M) from $40M to $14.146M
- Spares Center for Addiction Recovery Supports, Recovery Community Services Program, Building Communities of Recovery, Consumer and Consumer Supporter TA Centers, Assisted Outpatient Treatment, and more.
Starting on page 196, the budget recommends that Family-to-Family Health Information Centers be funded through the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2027, with further funding after that “to be determined.” Families as Allies is the Family-to-Family Health Information Center for Mississippi.
We urge you to carefully review the budget information and consider how its recommendations align with your family’s priorities.
If you have feedback about any of the proposed HHS budget, you can contact your United States senators by calling, emailing, or visiting one of their offices in Mississippi. Everyone in Mississippi has the same two United States senators:
- Senator Roger Wicker, office locations and phone numbers – email
- Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, office locations and phone numbers – email
