Hey Trump, Maybe Not The NIH?
Let's Discuss Why Budget Cuts To The NIH Are Not A Very Smart Idea.
Donald Trump is threatening as much as 43% cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH) budget, this would massively reduce the research institutions from 27 down to 9 and result in huge layoffs in staffing as well.
Estimates predict nearly 2,000 less medical grants to be distributed thanks to these cuts. Which should alarm anybody.
The NIH has long been the world leader in biomedical research, something that has played a part in 99% of medical patents approved between 2010-2019.
A JAMA Health Forum paper estimates a 15% reduction in new treatments, with an overall societal reduction of 82 million fewer years of life over 25 years.
These losses should be weighed against any potential gains that can arise from reduced spending. For instance, over the next 25 years the proposed annual savings of $20 billion amounts to $500 billion in budgetary reductions.
Though even this number pales in comparison to the $8.2 trillion in lost health, calculated using economists estimated value of a year of life multiplied by 25 years, which is 16 times greater than the proposed cost savings.
To state it bluntly, punishing campuses by cutting health research funding would destroy one-quarter of annual gross domestic product in the US.
The NIH not only has lead the way in treatments for the brain and mental health, addiction, cancer, the heart, genetic diseases, and more. They also return over double their investment, or roughly $2.56 in economic gain for every $1.00 spent on research.
A paper released by United For Medical Research or UMR found even more economic benefit from NIH research than first thought, as they write:
UMR’s analysis finds that, in FY24, the NIH “awarded $36.94 billion in extramural research funding to researchers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia,” and that “this funding directly and indirectly supported 407,782 jobs and produced $94.58 billion in new economic activity nationwide.” Since FY15, the report notes, NIH research funding has “driven more than $787 billion in new economic activity and supported an average of more than 370,000 jobs per year.”
So the funding of NIH research not only cures disease, it spurs economic growth and creates massive amounts of well-paying jobs. It seems the only reason the Trump Administration is defunding it is due to partisan disagreements over the Covid vaccine.
Which is a sad day for America.