Areas of Concern for Public Health

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) Vol. 107; no. 5; pp. 654 - 656
• Main Author: Sundwall, David N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Public Health Association 01-05-2017
• Subjects: 21st century; Access; AJPH National Public Health Week; Block grants; Brooks, Mel; Budget deficits; Cardiovascular diseases; Coronary artery disease; Cost control; Cures; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Disease control; Disease prevention; Economic development; Environmental policy; Executive orders; Federal budget; Funding; Government; Government programs; Grants; Health care expenditures; Health care industry; Health care policy; Health insurance; Health Law; Health services; Heart diseases; Humans; Infant mortality; Institutes; International economic organizations; Investments; Maternal & child health; Medicaid; Medicare; Other Health Financing; Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act 2010-US; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - economics; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - legislation & jurisprudence; Political parties; Prevention; Public Health; Ratings & rankings; Tobacco; United States; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.303749

BUDGET CUTS The ACA included authorization of the Prevention and Public Health Fund "to provide for expanded and sustained national investment in prevention and public health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in private and public health care costs" (https:// www.cdc.gov/funding/pphf). Of the $1 billion authorized annually for this, more than $892 million was to be transferred to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for activities to address heart disease, tobacco control, diabetes prevention, and other critical public health priorities. The Prevention and Public Health Fund funds have already been used to pay for an offset to a scheduled cut to Medicare physician payments1 and more recently to help pay for an increase in the National Institutes of Health budget authorized in the 21st Century Cures Act.2 If the ACA is repealed, including the Prevention and Public Health Fund, it could be disastrous for public health programs at the federal and state levels. In addition to the benefits to individual health when people have health insurance, Medicaid has been an important source of support to many public health initiatives, as documented in a report of the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission in June 2014, "Medicaid and Population Health." Would our country's already embarrassingly low international ranking in infant mortality, 27th among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, slip even further if this coverage is reduced? BLOCK GRANTING MEDICAID The use of block grants has been a longstanding policy of conservative Republicans,...