Appropriations Policy Issues
March 2009 Update
The National Health Council joined a new coalition called United For Medical Research (UMR) to develop a long-term strategy for increasing NIH appropriations. The Council joined at the Steering Committee level.
The new coalition is designed to represent the broadest possible set of interests, including the patient community, research groups, associations, and the biotech and pharmaceutical community. It will provide a central organizing force and location for information about the National Institutes of Health and will design and develop an ongoing, comprehensive strategy to increase funding at the NIH. On January 15, the Council participated in an all day series of interviews with six firms seeking to provide services for the new group. The Glover Park Group was selected to represent UMR going forward.
The 111th Congress was sworn in on January 6 and immediately began work on an economic stimulus package that contains several items related to health care. The final bill included funding for health information technology as well as additional funding for grants at the National Institutes of Health. Funding for Medicaid as well as COBRA subsidies were included in order to help cover recently laid off workers. Comparative effectiveness research is funded in this package at $1.1 billion dollars. The new law provides for $400 million to go to NIH for this research, $300 million to go to AHRQ, and an additional $400 million to be spent at the discretion of the Secretary of HHS. The legislation also included an additional $10.4 billion for the NIH.
The National Health Council signed onto several letters of support for increased health appropriations, including additional funds in the stimulus package.
The 111th Congress also completed work on the appropriations for the past fiscal year, FY 2009, which included an increase of 3.2 percent for NIH over FY 2008. Congress will immediately begin work on the FY 2010 appropriations, which will reflect President Obama’s budget priorities. An initial outline of the budget was released by the White House on February 24th.
The new chair of the Appropriations Issue Team for 2009 will be Abby Bownas of the American Diabetes Association.
Staff contact: Kevin Cain, Assistant Vice President, Government Affairs and Programs
