Advocacy - Comment Letter

Friends of NCHS urge Congress to provide additional funding

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Dear Chair Capito, Ranking Member Baldwin, Chair Aderholt, and Ranking DeLauro,

As Friends of NCHS, we write to thank you for the subcommittee’s support for the National Center for Health Statistics in recent years. Through its data collection and analysis, NCHS provides enormous value to researchers and policymakers. To that end, the undersigned organizations respectfully request an appropriation of $220 million for NCHS in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. This increased funding will strengthen the agency’s ability to provide accurate and timely health data to policymakers and reinforce the Center’s role as the world’s gold-standard producer of health statistics.

The enclosed document details specific areas in which additional investment will help NCHS enhance its work. Recent outbreaks and public health crises have provided a renewed understanding that timely, frequent, and granular data on America’s health and health care are essential to guide the public policy decisions that protect and improve the health and security of our nation. With additional funding, NCHS will be able to modernize its data collection efforts and more quickly provide meaningful information to policymakers, public health officials, providers, patients, and scientists who rely on NCHS data. NCHS could also better support the work of coroners and medical examiners whose death certificates are fundamental to the NCHS Vital Statistics System, as explained in this document , Saving Lives through Better Understanding of Deaths.

The Friends of NCHS greatly appreciates the House and Senate Subcommittees’ longstanding support of NCHS and we look forward to continuing to work with you. Again, we respectfully request an appropriation of $220 million for NCHS in FY 2026. Thank you for supporting this essential agency and its role in monitoring the health of our nation. If you have questions or wish to discuss this issue, please reach out to Meghan Riley, Chair of the Friends of NCHS, at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Academic Pediatric Association

AcademyHealth

Advocates for Better Children's Diets

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research

American Association of Colleges of Nursing

American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)

American Association on Health and Disability

American College of Clinical Pharmacy

American Heart Association

American Pediatric Society

American Public Health Association

American Society for Clinical Pathology

American Society for Nutrition

American Society on Aging

American Sociological Association

American Statistical Association

Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine

Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs

Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs

Association of Population Centers

Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology

Consortium of Social Science Associations

Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics

Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences

Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research

Healthy Teen Network

ICPSR

Lakeshore Foundation

March of Dimes

Marker Consulting, LLC