The Department of Government Efficiency's major funding and job cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is having a catastrophic effect on patients across the country who rely on federal programs to treat devastating diseases like cancer, according to a new report.
Yuki Noguchi with NPR wrote that In rural areas like Iowa, with particularly high cancer rates, patients rely on remote technology to connect them to specialists they might not otherwise be able to access. Now, however, DOGE cuts threaten access to the technology and programs they need.
"Doctors, hospitals and policymakers have been trying to fight [cancer] on multiple fronts, from attracting much-needed health care talent, to trying to increase screening, especially across the state's vast rural areas, where patients tend to get diagnosed later with late-stage cancers," Noguchi wrote. "But various Trump administration cuts, from contract freezes to funding caps on research institutions, could hamper or shut down such efforts, potentially leaving Iowans further behind in their fight against cancer."
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For instance, the Iowa Cancer Affiliate Network, which connects local health facilities to medical specialists, "is funded by federal grants that face immediate, drastic cuts," Noguchi wrote.
Losing top-tier medical talent is also a major concern. "It's not just the funding, it's the talent they're bleeding, because you can't get anything done without the talent," said Mark Burkhard, director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Iowa.
Burkhard told Noguchi that he had been "hoping to expand use of centralized cancer specialists to patients in rural hospitals around the state. Rural hospitals historically haven't been able to offer the kinds of support, therapy, transportation assistance, nutrition guidance and other ancillary cancer-care services some larger urban hospital centers can offer."
Burkhard added, "Advancing that network to deliver quality care will be interrupted if we need to focus on our budgetary needs."