How Much Is It Worth to Hear? : Congressional budget cutters aren’t telling us the real cost, in delayed or halted research, of loss of health care funds.
Recently I returned from a trip to the National Institutes of Health, where for the last three years I have served on the advisory council to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. I have learned from my scientist colleagues that basic biomedical research requires not only brilliant minds, but also the tenacity to pursue competitive research grants funded by the federal government. The funding available through NIH allows research to flourish in universities and medical schools across the United States.
Unfortunately, the fate of NIH, with its 20 institutes and research centers, is in jeopardy due to Congress’ narrow focus on balancing the budget. Proposals call for cuts of between 5% and 16% of the NIH annual budget starting in fiscal year 1996. The magnitude of these proposed cuts will radically alter the ability of the government to continue its support of basic biomedical research. And the negative multiplier effects of these cuts will be substantial. For example, a 16% cut in the NIH would undermine the economic viability of several medical schools and university-based research units that have relied on their partnership with NIH for a significant portion of their operating budget. Now, just 24% of research proposals are funded by NIH. With such a drastic budget cut, the funding rate for research proposals in the biomedical and behavioral sciences would effectively be reduced to 1%. The net effect would be to end NIH’s social contract with the American people and prevent the continued realization of its mission to “expand fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems, to apply that knowledge to extend the health of human lives and to reduce the burdens resulting from disease and disability.”
Here are some of the impacts of even with a more modest, 10% cut:
* At least three years’ delay in the development of a vaccine for ear infections. NIDCD funded scientists have developed a candidate vaccine against the nontypeable haemophilus influenza, a major cause of ear infections in young children. Ear infections bring more children to U.S. emergency rooms, clinics and doctors’ offices than any other cause and are estimated to cost between $1 billion and $3.5 billion a year. ???
* Shutting down of research aimed at a cure for deafness and balance disorders. In 1989, it was discovered that some animals can regenerate inner ear hair cells and reverse the devastating effects of acquired deafness or vertigo. A 10% cut will shut down research on hearing cell regeneration.
* Delay cochlear implant technology for at least three years. One million Americans who are severely hearing impaired could benefit from cochlear implants. Recent improvements in this technology can restore hearing, including the ability to use the telephone. NIDCD is at the point of identifying those who would most benefit from this.
Americans can no longer afford to be silent or ignore the budgetary process in Congress. We must leap into arenas that may appear distant to our immediate needs. What budget cutters in Congress are not saying is that these choices on budget appropriations are not aimed at just balancing the budget but at destroying a valuable infrastructure that will never be absorbed by the private sector. If this infrastructure is dismantled or severely crippled it will take decades to rebuild, meanwhile causing irreversible damage to biomedical research and, consequently, the health of the nation.
