Extensive health shortlements make America unhealthy, experts are worried | Local news

President Donald Trump’s government wants to deal with chronic diseases, but his own budget cuts are threatened with these efforts and the restructuring of the department, with which health experts are concerned.

The new make America Healthy Recip Commission aims to tackle a “growing health crisis”. It will examine the increase and basic causes of chronic diseases that could include medical treatments, state guidelines, environmental factors and an influence of companies.

Federal health cuts could be undermined that hire America again healthy

The US Ministry of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, who also heads the Commission, has initiated major changes that could affect Maha’s work.

HHS announced on March 27 that it reduces 62,000 employees from 82,000 employees and reduce the number of regional offices and departments that can access Americans.

These cuts will hit Virginia. Half of the Ministry of Health in Virginia last year was financed by the Federal Government, according to the shipping of Richmond Times. The federal cuts could lead to a loss of over 200 million US dollars and over 500 employees of contractual items.

Kennedy sees HHS as a bloated bureaucracy that must be more efficient. The HHS budget rose by 38% and the HR department according to the bidges administration by 17%.

According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration proposed an estimated reduction in the discretion budget of the HHS budget or $ 40 billion.

HHS will create an administration for healthy America or an AHA as part of downsizing and restructuring. Five separate HHS agencies, from security at work to substance consumption and mental health, are consolidated in AHA.

Management of chronic diseases at the center of the debate

The former speech writer and the head of the domestic policy, Vince Haley, is an executive director of the Maha Commission.

Chronic diseases in children are the focus of the Commission. According to Trump, an estimated 30 million children had at least one state of health such as allergies, asthma or an autoimmune disease in 2022.

Over 3.4 million children now have medication for attention deficit/attention deficit -hyperactivity disorder, with a diagnostic rate that continues to increase.

The Commission will recommend important reforms regarding research, health care, food safety and public order. The aim is to improve people, but some experts say that the increase in chronic diseases is mainly due to longer life expectations and previous diagnostic rates.

Chronic diseases are defined by the CDC as diseases that last longer than a year and require continuous medical help. An estimated 60% of Americans have at least one chronic illness and 25% of adults in the United States have a mental health.

Many diseases are caused by health habits such as poor nutrition, smoking or alcohol abuse. But there are also social determinants such as poverty, unhealthy environments and a lack of access to high -quality education and workplaces, the CDC says.

Katie Lorig, professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, helped the introduction of self -management programs for chronic diseases in which workshops organize and provide resources to help people manage symptoms.

“We pay for medication, we pay for an operation, we pay for all kinds of things that are actually necessary for chronic diseases,” said Lorig.

But people need help to deal with chronic diseases. Some can be avoided by changes in behavior, but according to Lorig, the genetics will not change regardless of changes in the lifestyle.

“If we don’t want to expand the lifespan infinity, we will probably never get rid of chronic illnesses,” said Lorig. “We can improve the quality of life and that is probably the most important thing.”

The Commission underlines the overuse of prescription drugs associated with these diagnoses and states that it is a bad threat to the Americans.

“Medicines are absolutely necessary to treat chronic diseases,” said Lorig.

Proponents of mental health urge to represent

According to Caren Howard, director of politics and advocacy with mental health America, there is currently no representative of mental health.

Ideally, all HHS agencies would integrate the principles and ideas of drug abuse and administration of the management of drugs, since “there is no health without mental health,” she said.

Samhsa, which is absorbed by the new administration for healthy America, drives initiatives on public health to support people with mental and substance disorders.

“I think the right person for the job will prioritize and compensate for the voices of people with mental illnesses together with all other stakeholders and players in health policy and healthcare,” said Howard.

The cuts within HHS mean that according to Howard, fewer people will do to do the same work that really needs to be done.

“I think there will be much less progress in relation to the agency’s ability in the next few years to quickly clear out the concerns,” said Howard.

Virginia Professor signs open concerns

The Commission’s approach imitates some of the more comprehensive goals in the 2025 project of the Heritage Foundation. This was a conservative political agenda that was prepared for the president’s transition.

Both the Commission and the 2025 project emphasize the increasing transparency in the health data, have diverted research financing in order to focus on the causes of illnesses and skepticism about the dependence of the current medical system in pharmaceuticals for the treatment of chronic and mental illnesses.

Scientists and professors across America have written an open letter to the public about how the cuts of the Trump government have already affected scientific research as a whole. However, many fear exposure and effects, whereby several health care and political experts in Virginia hesitate and reject interviews.

“The administration reduces the financing of scientific authorities, ends the grants to scientists, withdraws their laboratories and hinders international scientific cooperation that forces institutions to pause research, including studies on new illness treatments,” the letter said.

Steven H. Woolf, Director Emeritus and Senior Adviser at the VCU Center on Society and Health, was one of the estimated 2,000 people who signed the letter.

“There will be a harmful impact that will damage the health of the Americans, which is a bit ironic in view of the fact that the administration makes this slogan healthy again,” said Woolf.

According to Woolf, the long -term effects due to the limited access to health care will be living costs, and America will not be the world in research.

“The most important guidelines for combating chronic diseases are not in the health area,” said Woolf.

According to Woolf, Virginia should deal with the handling of gaps in poverty, education and affordable living space.

“Dealing with these social illnesses with which so many Virgins have to struggle would help to reduce the stress of chronic diseases than to bring another wing into the hospital,” said Woolf.

The potential effects of the Maha Commission are still unclear. By the end of May, the Commission will present the President an assessment of the chronic diseases in childhood and build a strategy to improve the health of American children in August.

The student believes that more people will feel helpless

Zephyr Conrad in the fourth year in the fourth year was only diagnosed older with depression and fear, but can now look back and see the signs in their childhood.

“I take medication for it, which does not delete the fact that I am afraid and depression, but it reduces the symptoms and gives me longer periods of good mental health,” said Conrad.

Conrad Studies Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In the past eight months, they have tried to receive an official diagnosis of the Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a chronic illness that affects a body’s connective tissue or essentially tendons and ligaments “stretch” according to Conrad. Some doctors said it was not worth the expensive diagnosis because the disease is not curable.

People could lose access to health care for diagnosis, medication and support if scientists are prevented from examining and treating certain chronic diseases.

Conrad fears that self -harm will increase if people feel more helpful.

“Because if people have no access to care that can help them with these problems, this often happens with both physical and mental health,” said Conrad.

The Capital News Service is a program by the Robertson School of Media and Culture of the Robertson School of Media and Culture of the Virginia Commonwealth. Students of the program offer reporting on the state government for a large number of media in Virginia.