DOGE lays out $394M in Michigan health cuts. But what does it mean?

• It’s still unclear how federal cuts will play out in local services — from disease surveillance to substance use treatment to mental health services
• Each of the 14 line items was followed with ‘no description available’
• But providers have ‘grave concerns’ for cuts that ‘undoubtedly’ will come, said a behavioral health leader

A federal website this week laid out about $394 million in cuts to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, leaving local health leaders and providers on edge.

As the week closed, state and federal officials had offered little to no guidance to local health providers about what happens next or even confirmation that the numbers are accurate.

The Whitmer administration would not publicly comment on the cuts. 

But Democratic lawmakers slammed the move in a Friday afternoon statement, stating that they, too, were awaiting clarification from the state but feared the possible consequences for Michigan residents. 

Among their concerns: increased spread of infectious disease and diminished ability to respond, as well as the budget hole that could impact other DHHS-funded programs benefiting vulnerable populations.

“No matter what way you spin it, Michigan does not have the financial reserves to make up for these life-threatening federal cuts,” said state Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor. 

The Trump administration said Wednesday that it was canceling $12 billion in grants allocated to state health departments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the next day unveiled plans to fire 10,000 federal US Health and Human Services employees. 

The cuts include about $11.4 billion allocated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and about $1 billion from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Spokespersons for both agencies didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. 

In statements shared with other news outlets, federal health department spokespeople said the department “will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”

They said that, instead of COVID, federal health officials will focus on efforts to “address our chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again.”
The Department of Government Efficiency, an initiative run by billionaire business owner Elon Musk to slash federal spending, reported billions in purported savings on its website from canceling existing health grants in Michigan and other states. 

But DOGE’s accounting of its efforts to slash government spending has been riddled with major errors, and state health officials have not yet confirmed DOGE’s claim to have cut more than $394 million in grants to Michigan. 

Among the Michigan grants that DOGE says have been canceled: $238.3 million that remained from a $574.8 million CDC grant for COVID-19 testing, $58.8 million from a $315.2 million grant for lab capacity to prevent and control emerging infectious diseases, and $25.5 million from a $41.9 million grant to provide mental health services.

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Though public health officials in other states have acknowledged similar cuts, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment from Bridge Michigan since Wednesday evening. 

Health officials in Lubbock, Texas, told the New York Times, for instance, that funding cuts in that state included money that was being used to help quell the measles outbreak that has gripped West Texas and New Mexico. Some 400 people have been infected in Texas — mostly children — with more than 40 hospitalized and at least two dead between the two states.

In Michigan on Friday, local health departments were still awaiting word on what precisely they will have to cut.

“You can imagine pouring water into some sand and watching it flow through all these rivulets down to the bottom,” said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, director of the Wayne County Health, Human & Veterans Services, referring to the federal dollars and decisions that flow through the state health department and ultimately to local health departments. “We just really don't know exactly what the long-term consequences of this are going to be.”

“The only thing we can say with certainty at this point is we are preparing to make adjustments,” Norm Hess, executive director of the Michigan Association of Local Public Health, said in a statement Friday.

Hess later told Bridge that health leaders have been stunned by the “abruptness of these actions” and the lack of clarity about the impact of the federal funding cuts on the state’s $37.7 billion state health department budget. He questioned, too, the accuracy of the numbers released by DOGE.

“We don’t have the right information to make sound decisions,” he said.

State health officials are “working hard,” but have been unable to provide clarification, he said.

The lack of details left local providers worried they will have to cut critical treatments and services, said Daniel Cherrin, speaking for three associations whose members serve Michiganders with substance use disorder and behavioral health issues.

“There is no question they will be affected,”  he said. “We’re just not sure on the how and the when.”

“We don’t really know yet what ramifications there are,” said Bette Premo, lab manager for White Water Labs, which is responsible for testing wastewater in Upper Peninsula communities for infectious disease. 

In northern lower Michigan, staff in the Health Department of Northwest Michigan are “awaiting clarification on what the cuts mean and what programs will be impacted," said Jeremy Fruk, the department’s director of environmental health services.

In Wayne County, it appears that cuts will affect $3.7 million that pays for COVID vaccine administration and supports lab workers and epidemiologists tracking disease, El-Sayed, the health department’s director, said.

Such cuts will hamstring departments at the time they might need it most, as the nation tries to protect itself from avian flu and measles. Neighboring Ohio and Windsor confirmed measles cases this month, and Michigan confirmed its first case March 14.