Illinois, Cook County Public Health Leaders Say Federal Funding Cuts Came With Little Notice

Health

Illinois, Cook County Public Health Leaders Say Federal Funding Cuts Came With Little Notice

Abena Bediako | March 31, 2025, 7:30 pm

Illinois’ public health funding is set to take a hit.

State officials say the Trump administration is pulling back $477 million aimed at preventing infectious disease and treating mental health and substance abuse issues. The funding is part of roughly $1.8 billion the state is expecting to receive from the federal government but remains in limbo.

The Illinois Department of Public Health announced this week the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is taking back $125 million allocated to IDPH and 97 local health departments for infectious disease prevention. Another $324 million appropriated by Congress for “future use” in preventing and treating infectious disease also is being blocked.

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“We knew that the federal government was looking at budgetary cuts,” Dr. Sameer Vohra, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. “However, this was funding that, although we got during the height of the pandemic, had received notices to be able to continue spending on critical issues to prepare for future emergencies, issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, with end dates spread between the end of fiscal year, July 2025, ‘26 and ‘27. We did not get any notice until last week that those extensions wouldn’t be honored.”

Vohra says the grants allow local health departments to work on a variety of areas including respiratory surveillance technological improvements and expanding laboratory capabilities. Both will be affected by the cuts.

The federal cuts are part of President Donald Trump’s plan to improve government efficiency and spending. Federal health plan to pull back $11.4 billion in COVID-19-related funds for state and local public health departments and other health organizations throughout the nation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

“We’re just five years outside of the start of a global pandemic that really affected every individual across our state, country and the world,” said Vohra. “Putting resources into that is absolutely critical so we can ensure that we are mitigating any issues that arise around global threats coming to our public health.”

Of the 97 local health departments in Illinois, Cook County Health is losing two CDC grants totaling $31 million aimed at supporting COVID-19 recovery, health equity and community health worker efforts.

“We had several staff that were funded on the grant, where we’re sort of working to figure out how we sustain those staff,” said Dr. Kiran Joshi, interim chief operating officer of the Cook County Department of Public Health. “There were about 21 contracts that were impacted, many involved contractors that in turn, employed community health workers, for example, that supported community health worker pipeline efforts and training programs and also did help us do things like increase pediatric vaccination rates in suburban Cook County.”

Cook County Health is one of the largest public health systems in the nation. Last October, the county released a behavioral health workforce shortage report saying Illinois doesn’t have enough providers available to prevent, diagnose and treat mental health and substance use disorders.

“Our overarching concern is that this is going to be to the detriment of the public health of suburban Cook County,” said Joshi.

The county is also potentially facing deep funding cuts to Medicaid. The GOP-controlled U.S. House passed a budget resolution that plans to cut $880 billion over the next decade for health care spending.

“It’s clear that we’re going to continue to have challenges and uncertainties that stem from policy changes at the federal level, where our work is grounded in our values, which include delivering public health services,” said Joshi. “We’re committed to social justice, we’re committed to health equity, and we’re going to stay dedicated to what we’ve been doing, to working with partners, colleagues and all the communities that rely on us.”

Separately, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies that oversee addiction services and community health centers.

“In this desire for more efficiency, there isn’t a lot of information around what is the strategy to ensure that these critical personnel aren’t being lost,” said Vohra. “We have been very fortunate to have real access to experts on the federal level that help us here in Illinois. It is for us to have government systems where we can attract the best and brightest individuals that are wanting to serve the public. I think there’s a real fear without knowing exactly the strategy, the thought behind how these cuts are also going to affect Illinois.”