BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Cuts to the National Institute of Health and the potential slashing of Medicare on Capitol Hill prompted Governor Maura Healey to visit Boston Children’s Hospital on Monday.
CEO of BCH Dr. Kevin Churchwell said he has already seen cuts to the hospital’s 230 million in NIH funding, most of which has been vaccine-research related. Those funding freezes are an apparent violation of a federal court order out of Boston, which directed the Trump Administration not to go ahead with the cuts.
In a news conference, Gov. Healey cited what she called the negative impacts cuts to healthcare from the Trump Administration would have on institutes like BCH, hampering the help it provides to sick children.
“I don’t know anyone who could go up and have the experience that I just had, visiting with families and seeing these little kids, want to take that hope away from any family,” an emotional Healey said. “We’re better than that.”
Healey made the point that putting Bay State scientists out of work was resulting in recruitment efforts from foreign countries poaching those researchers to do their lab work abroad. Pressed for specifics, Healey said Chinese recruiters had come calling at UMass Amherst.
“What we have heard is that [the NIH] funding isn’t coming though in all instances, so already we have seen that effect,” Healey said. “We’ve already seen institutions, colleges, and universities here in our state and research programs cut back.”
Another issue she raised was the possibility of cuts to Medicaid, something being tossed around by Republicans in Washington.
“The cuts that are being proposed in order to fund huge tax breaks for some of the richest people in the world are going to come on the backs of these patients and their families,” Healey said. “To put that in perspective, right here at Children’s, 46 percent of patients are enrolled in Medicaid.”