Out of sight, out of mind: Without federal support, brain injury survivors will be left behind

Unlike a broken bone, a brain injury is often invisible.

We can't see the cognitive struggles, the lost memories or the chronic pain. But for millions of Americans with brain injury, the impact is lifelong and profound. Every day is an exercise in rebuilding your life, your relationships and future.

Federal programs have made the journey of life with brain injury a bit more manageable. But now, that support is under serious threat.

Budget proposals and the Office of Management and Budget’s leaked passback document outline catastrophic cuts to health programs across the board. Among them: the elimination of nearly every federal initiative supporting people with brain injuries.

Decades of investment in prevention and treatment could vanish with the stroke of a pen. These programs aren't wasteful spending. They are an important investment for people living with brain injury — now and in the future.

These proposed cuts would dismantle the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s HEADS UP program, which trains coaches, parents and athletes to recognize concussions before they cause permanent damage. They would collapse the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems, the nation’s gold standard for providing care and advancing recovery for survivors with moderate to severe brain injuries. We would also lose the National Concussion Surveillance System and end the collection of critical data showing where injuries are happening and how many lives are at risk.

Funding cuts for these programs put all of us at risk. Funding cuts mean a teenage football player sustains a preventable second concussion because his school had no access to proper return-to-play guidelines. A veteran with a blast injury loses access to a rehabilitation specialist trained to address cognitive impairments. Families already stretched thin by caregiving responsibilities lose the tiny but crucial grants that kept their loved ones living independently at home.

Brain injury does not just happen to “other people.” More than 64 million Americans have sustained at least one traumatic brain injury (TBI) in their lifetime and millions have suffered from non-traumatic brain injuries like stroke, aneurysm or a lack of oxygen.

Federal investment in brain injury research and care is modest. In 2024, TBI research funding was an estimated $194 million, which is just $3.03 per person living with a TBI — barely the cost of a cup of coffee. That figure pales in comparison to the estimated $76.5 billion annual cost of TBI in the United States for emergency care, hospitalization, lost productivity, disability and social services.

Cutting these programs isn't fiscal responsibility. It's public health malpractice.

Eliminating programs like HEADS UP, the National Concussion Surveillance System and the Core State Injury Prevention Program will roll back decades of progress. These cuts will create a world where more people are suffering from the effects of brain injury, and we will have a lessened ability to identify and help those in need. It is not realistic to assume that states will be able to pick up the cost of these programs, so many will likely go away with no backup plan for continuity.

This should not be a political issue.

For decades, programs that support brain injury prevention, research and treatment have received bipartisan support because the need for them is undeniable. Brain injuries don't discriminate by party, race, income or geography. Brain injury can strike suddenly — a slip on the ice, a collision on the field, a car crash, a roadside bomb in combat — and alter lives forever.

Brain injury should be thought of as a chronic health condition. Many survivors struggle with persistent effects such as memory loss, depression, behavioral changes and physical disabilities, which can quietly erode their ability to work, study or maintain relationships. Worse, brain injury dramatically increases the risk of developing devastating conditions later in life, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and stroke.

Without continued research, education and community-based supports, many survivors will simply fall through the cracks. Eliminating federal brain injury programs would worsen these public health crises while stripping hope from those who need it most.

The Brain Injury Association of America calls on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse course. We urge Congress to reject these devastating cuts to brain injury programs.

Investing in brain injury services and research saves lives, saves money and upholds America’s promise to care for its most vulnerable citizens. America made that promise decades ago, when it began building the vital network of programs that exist today. That promise must not be broken now. Not when so many lives and futures depend on it.

Rick Willis is president and CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America.

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