Issue Category: Public Health Funding

May is National Physical Fitness & Sports Month

Physical activity across the lifespan supports good health and well-being and is a key health behavior for healthy aging. For National Physical Fitness & Sports Month Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) is sharing the following reports and resources with a focus on evidence-based programs and policies that if enacted or expanded will help all residents be physically active and enjoy optimal health and well-being.

The State of Obesity: Better Policies for a Healthier America, 2018: This report highlights the latest obesity trends, policies, programs, and practices that can reverse the obesity epidemic, and includes key recommendations for specific actions. New studies documenting national obesity rates and trends reinforce what we already know: obesity rates are alarmingly high; sustained, meaningful reductions have not yet been achieved nationally; and racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities persist. Policies and programs like the National Diabetes Prevention Program, community-based programs, safe routes to school, school-based physical education and physical activity, and complete streets policies play a key role in increasing physical activity and reversing the obesity epidemic.

Promoting Health and Cost Control: How States Can Improve Community Health and Well-Being Through Policy Change: This new report considers the important ways life circumstances outside the healthcare sector impact health. It recommends 13 policy actions that data show if enacted by states would improve health and well-being for community residents. Complete street polices are one way to promote physical activity and connectedness. Complete streets are streets that provide safe and comfortable means of transport for all users including walkers, bikers and people driving cars. Moreover, enacting complete streets and other complementary streetscape design policies can not only improve the physical well-being of individuals, but also help avoid costs for public (Medicaid and Medicare) and private payers.

Countering Childhood Obesity in Georgia: Georgia Shape, a statewide multifaceted initiative, seeks to advance the health and well-being of children by utilizing a cross-sectors approach to tackle childhood obesity in the state. Through the development of community-wide interventions, particularly Georgia Shapes’ ‘Power Up for 30’ program, rates of childhood obesity in Georgia have started to decrease. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recognizes school-based programs to increase physical activity, such as ‘Power Up for 30’, as one of fourteen non-clinical community-wide interventions that can lead to cost-effective and cost-saving health outcomes within five years.

President’s Proposed FY20 Budget Will Harm the Nation’s Public Health

Washington, D.C., March 11, 2019 – Statement from John Auerbach, president and CEO, Trust for America’s Health (TFAH).

Auerbach on the President’s Budget Proposal:

“The President’s proposed budget – which includes a 12 percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget and an approximate 10 percent cut to the CDC – would be harmful to the nation’s public health and safety.  States and communities are grappling with increasing healthcare costs, rises in premature deaths due to chronic disease, substance misuse and suicide, and an increased threat of weather-related emergencies.  These realities have created unprecedented demands on our already under-resourced public health infrastructure. Now is the time to strategically increase investments in public health programs and infrastructure, not cut them.”

Auerbach on the consequences of spending caps:

“This proposed budget shows the potential consequences if Congress fails to raise spending caps this year. Health agencies and programs are a continuum.  If we decrease investments in prevention and detection of diseases, we can expect higher costs for treatment and response. We urge Congress to reject the proposed budget and work toward a spending package that invests in America’s health.”

Auerbach on diverted resources:

“We are also deeply concerned by the recent report that HHS has diverted an additional $385 million from other programs to increase shelter capacity for unaccompanied migrant children. These programs can’t afford any further diversions. The $14 million being taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, is more than the agency’s budget for activities around climate change, unintentional injuries, or healthcare associated infections.”

TFAH urges Congress and the Administration to work to raise the budget caps and enact appropriations bills that reflect the health needs of our population.  Our specific concerns about the proposed budget include:

An approximate 10 percent reduction to CDC’s overall program budget. The budget request proposes about $750 million in spending cuts to CDC’s program level, compared with FY19.

Proposed CDC program cuts include:

  • Cuts to programs to prevent chronic conditions down by approximately 20 percent – including programs to address obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke. These diseases are the leading causes of death and healthcare costs in the U.S.; decreasing our investment in their prevention would be short-sighted.
  • Cuts to programs to protect health from environmental threats such as lead poisoning and asthma made worse by air quality – down approximately 25 percent.
  • Cuts to programs to prevent birth defects down by approximately 28 percent.
  • Inadequate funding to prevent substance misuse and suicide – Deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide are at an all-time high,1 yet the budget proposes cuts or level funding for many substance misuse and suicide prevention activities at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and CDC.

The creation of a comprehensive HIV strategy.

Trust for America’s Health applauds the bold goal to end the U.S. HIV epidemic by 2030, but an increased investment in the domestic response to HIV should not come at the expense of efforts to combat other infectious diseases, chronic diseases or environmental threats. At the same time, administrative and legal changes to the ACA and Medicaid are likely to reduce HIV patient access to care.

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Trust for America’s Health is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that promotes optimal health for every person and community and makes the prevention of illness and injury a national priority.

1. Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust. Pain in the Nation Update: While Deaths from Alcohol, Drugs, and Suicide Slowed Slightly in 2017, Rates Are Still at Historic Highs, March 5, 2019. https://www.tfah.org/report-details/pain-in-the-nation-update-while-deaths-from-alcohol-drugs-and-suicide-slowed-slightly-in-2017-rates-are-still-at-historic-highs/

TFAH Applauds Passage of FY19 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill

September 26, 2018 — Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) applauds Congress for today’s passage of the FY19 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill, which includes a $126 million increase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). By completing the bill before the end of the fiscal year, Congress is ensuring that state and local health departments and other grantees can continue their critical work protecting the public’s health without fear of gaps in their grant cycles.

The now passed FY19 funding will enable CDC to continue its important work helping communities prepare for natural disasters and other emergencies, as is happening now in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. The appropriations include a small increase to enable communities to continue working to address health disparities through the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program. It also continues funding focused on environmental health, and for the CDC’s critical work addressing the substance misuse crisis.

“By working together on a bipartisan basis Congress has provided a much-needed funding increase to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This increase is an important down payment on the investment required to ensure the public health system is fully prepared to tackle the health threats facing the nation,” said John Auerbach, TFAH’s President and CEO.

For years we have underfunded our nation’s public health system, which only leads to increased healthcare spending when illness and injury occur. According to TFAH’s report, A Funding Crisis for Public Health and Safety, core funding for disease prevention and health promotion programs has declined by approximately $580 million federally and has remained flat in states since 2010.

“The country needs a long-term commitment to rebuilding the nation’s public health capacity. Not just to filling some of the more dangerous gaps, but to ensuring that all communities are prepared and resilient when emergencies happen. TFAH hopes that Congress will work together again next year to raise the budget caps which kept critically important health spending at levels below those of fiscal year 2010,” Auerbach said.

Earlier this year, Auerbach testified before the House Labor-HHS Appropriations Committee about the importance of public health funding. His testimony can be found here.