President’s Budget Represents New Resources and Missed Opportunities for Public Health

Contact Becky Wexler
(301) 652-1558
bwexler@burnesscommunications.com

Washington, D.C. (February 13, 2012)—The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) applauds the Obama Administration for funding important public health initiatives, but remains concerned about cuts to key programs that maintain the nation’s health and security.

The President’s FY2013 budget proposal, released today, allocates $1.25 billion for the Prevention and Public Health Fund—including investments to improve public health infrastructure and technology through the National Public Health Improvement Initiative, expand and train the public health workforce, increase state and local epidemiology and laboratory capacity, and support community efforts to combat chronic disease through Community Transformation Grants.

“People in every community depend on programs in this budget to keep them healthy and safe,” said NACCHO’s executive director Robert M. Pestronk. “The Prevention and Public Health Fund, for example, is an investment in the work of local health departments to prevent infectious and chronic disease. Diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and influenza can increase business costs, reduce school and business competitiveness, and impede military preparedness.”

“Despite this new funding,” Pestronk continued, “the President’s budget misses an important opportunity to bolster public health services that have been hardest hit by recent budget cuts, leaving gaping holes in areas such as emergency preparedness, environmental health, and immunization.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which provides funds to state and local health departments to carry out a wide array of programs across the country, had its base funding cut by $664 million or 11 percent from the previous year.

The most troubling of these budget reductions will further reduce community resilience:

• An $80 million cut to Community Transformation Grants that provide resources to reduce the impact of chronic disease.
• A $59 million cut to the Section 317 Immunization Program that provides vaccine services to low-income and uninsured children, adolescents and adults.
• A $14 million cut to public health workforce development program at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which includes public health training centers and preventive medicine residency training.
• Eliminating the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, a cut of $80 million to a fundamental and flexible source of funding for state and local public health departments to address local health concerns.
• Scaling back the Prevention and Public Health Fund (cut of $4 billion) over ten years, starting in FY2014.

The budget includes increases for HIV prevention and care programs at HRSA and food safety at CDC.

To access President Obama’s full budget for FY2013, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.

To learn more about how the local public health workforce has been affected by budget cuts, visit http://www.naccho.org/jobloss.

About the National Association of County and City Health Officials
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation's 2,800 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities.