NIH Funding Not Rising With Rate of Inflation, State Economies Affected, Report Finds
NIH funding in recent years has not kept pace with inflation, and its budget should be increased by 6.6% for fiscal year 2009, according to a study released Wednesday by Families USA, the Hartford Courant reports. Congress' failure to keep NIH funding on pace with inflation has reduced NIH's purchasing power by 13% since 2003, which negatively affects economic growth dependent on NIH grants and the nation's standing in the international science community, the report states (Abrahamson, Hartford Courant, 6/19).According to the report, of NIH's total 2007 funding, nearly $23 billion was used for grants and contracts for research at universities, medical research centers, hospitals and research institutions. According to CQ HealthBeat, the report found that such grants help improve local health care and have created more than 350,000 jobs and generated $50.5 billion in business activity. The report found a strong link between NIH-funded medical schools and the highest-ranking U.S. hospitals affiliated with those schools (Parnass, CQ HealthBeat, 6/18).
Ron Pollack, Families USA's executive director, said that the failure of NIH's funding to keep pace with inflation "has a stifling effect on state economies. NIH awards spur vital medical research while at the same time injecting millions of dollars into local economies" (Simmons, Raleigh News & Observer, 6/19). Pollack attributed the stagnant funding to "misplaced" priorities of the Bush administration and the increasing deficit as a result of tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "This decrease in NIH funding comes at a time when states are facing challenges to their own economics, when the nation faces rising health threats from potential pandemics, potential terrorist biomedical attacks and the rise of drug-resistant diseases like tuberculosis," he said (CQ HealthBeat, 6/18).
The study is available online (.pdf). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
