President Joe Biden released his fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget on March 28, requesting $127.3 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a $26.8% increase from the 2021 enacted level. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) would get $49 billion, which includes a $5 billion investment in the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to conduct research on "cancer and other diseases such as diabetes and dementia." The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would receive a $2.1 billion increase over FY 2022 appropriations to total $8.4 billion, including for monitoring of global supply chains and artificial intelligence investments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget would increase by $2.3 billion over FY 2022 appropriations to total $10.675 billion. In addition, the budget includes a $41.9 million increase compared with FY 2022 appropriations to total of $453.8 million for HHS’ Office of Inspector General to keep pace with "HHS' growing expenditures, programs, and risks" and a 10.6% increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs for a total of $301.4 billion, including a "historic" $122.7 billion investment in veteran medical care, $13.9 billion for veteran mental health care, and $497 million for suicide prevention. 

Biden's budget request includes investments across multiple agencies to support several priority initiatives, including preparing for future pandemics and other biological threats ($81.7 billion), improving public health infrastructure and domestic and global threat surveillance ($28 billion), increasing public health capacity at CDC and state and local levels ($9.9 billion), addressing the nation’s mental health ($51.7 billion) and opioid ($10.4 billion) epidemics, reducing new cases of HIV/AIDS ($850 million), and reducing maternal mortality and race-based disparities ($470 million). In addition, the budget includes $92 million to support the president’s goal of reducing the cancer death rate by 50% over the next 25 years.

While the president’s budget does not include specific health care policies included in the House-passed Build Back Better Act, it does call on Congress to pass legislation to cut "costs for prescription drugs, health care premiums, child care, long-term care," and more. In addition, the budget requires all health plans to cover mental health benefits, ensure plans have adequate behavioral health provider networks, and includes $275 million to ensure the Department of Labor can enforce mental health parity laws.

"Budgets are about more than dollars. They’re about values. And the President’s budget is a reflection of our values as a nation," said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. "From addressing health disparities to strengthening behavioral health to investing in our children, this budget will help turn hardship into hope for millions of families. And it will ensure we can fulfill our department’s crucial mission of improving the health and well-being of the American people."

Like most presidential budgets, the documents are largely aspirational, and lawmakers of both parties have made clear they’re unlikely to adopt Biden’s proposals in full.

See below a chart of key health care initiatives outlined by the Biden administration in their budget request and visit the budget landing page for more detail.

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