The Executive Council approved the first round of mandatory spending cuts to previously awarded New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services contracts, part of an effort to slash $51 million in spending required by lawmakers.
The cuts to existing contracts include trimming $1 million from mental health and life skills programs for youth living in residential placements, as well as cutting $100,000 from a contract to operate cold weather shelters. Another $2 million in cuts will come from a previously awarded contract that provides support services to the homes of at-risk families, while a contract for dental care at the Sununu Center is facing a $24,000 reduction.
The cuts — approximately $4.2 million in total approved Wednesday — are just the first steps in mandatory reductions state health officials were ordered to find as part of the state budget passed this summer.
Health Commissioner Lori Weaver said, in this first round, officials sought to minimize any impact on program recipients by, in part, comparing the actual use of some services from the previous year with the contracts’ forecasts.
“We'll still continue to serve families. We just can't expand beyond and keep going,” she told members of the Executive Council when asked about the funding for at-home services. “We're going to have a limit with how far we can go, but no existing family would be getting any cuts.”
Still, the cuts raised fears of reduced services for vulnerable residents.
Karen Liot Hill, the lone Democrat on the Executive Council, told Weaver she agreed with the agency’s initial approach to try and limit the number of people affected by the contract revisions.
“But, at some point, people are going to be harmed by these budget cuts,” she warned.
New Hampshire Republicans passed a two-year state budget in June that included what’s known as “back of the budget” cuts across state agencies, including Health and Human Services. The plan allows health officials to determine how to find the savings by June 2027.
Advocates and some Democrats are criticizing the cuts as misguided.
"Instead of lowering costs, New Hampshire conservatives want to take dental care away from kids and let people in Grafton and Coos Counties freeze to death,” said Lucas Meyer with the progressive group Our Economy Our Future.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte is defending the cuts put forward by the state health department, telling councilors “we are working diligently together, and we're prioritizing our most vulnerable citizens.”
