A recent report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) shows that federal funding for public health programs may be based upon region. The report concluded that federal spending for public health programs have been level over the past five years despite inflation and the need for disease prevention. Last year alone, states were forced to cut $392 million in public health programs in the face of record levels of unemployment.
Also, further budget cuts for 2010 will make it hard for states to administer chronic disease prevention, infectious disease prevention, food and water safety, environmental health improvement and bioterrorism and health emergency preparedness.
The Executive Director of TFAH, Jeffrey Levi PhD believes that, “Chronic under funding for public health means that millions of Americans are needlessly suffering from preventable diseases, health care costs have skyrocketed, and our workforce is not as healthy as it needs to be to compete with the rest of the world. If we are going to improve the health of Americans, we need to fundamentally rethink our approach to funding and managing public health and disease prevention in the United States.”
Funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) varies from $3.55 per person in Nevada to $169.92 per person in Hawaii. Midwestern starts receive the smallest amounts of funding and across the nation the amount spent on a person averages $19.23.
Disparities between regions and states could equate for varying levels of health across the nation. Disease prevention is critical for controlling health insurance and health care costs in the future.