TFAH's Statement on the Reallocation of Portions of the Prevention and Public Health Fund

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Apr 12, 2013, 06:39 ET

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Trust for America's Health (TFAH) is disappointed that the United States Department of Health and Human Services plans to reallocate at least $304 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund to provide health insurance enrollment support.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100204/TFAHLOGO)

The Affordable Care Act directs the Prevention Fund to be used for "prevention, wellness, and public health activities including prevention research and health screenings, such as the Community Transformation grant program, the Education and Outreach Campaign for Preventive Benefits, and immunization programs."

The following is a statement from Jeffrey Levi, Ph.D., executive director of TFAH.

"We recognize the importance insurance enrollment plays in ensuring people gain access to critical life-saving and -extending services, including clinical preventive services. However, it is just as important that people have access to the support they need outside the doctor's office to get and remain healthy and potentially avoid those life-threatening health situations.

The diversion of funds is a disproportionately large burden. We should not be creating a competition between the potential gains from more people receiving insurance and more people taking part in preventive services and the programs outside the clinical/insurance system that we know have a great bearing on the ability of people to become and remain healthy.

In just a short time, through investments such as the Community Transformation Grants (CTG), the Tips from Former Smokers campaign, and the National Public Health Improvement Initiative (NPHII), the Prevention Fund has helped build laboratory capacity to track and respond to disease outbreaks, train the nation's public health workforce, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, reduce tobacco use, prevent injuries, and help control the obesity epidemic.

These programs, and others financed through the Prevention Fund, are central to the success of health reform because they are focused on improving the health of Americans and containing health care costs in the long run.

TFAH looks forward to working with Congress and the Administration to ensure the core objectives of the Prevention Fund are met through the combined use of the FY13 and FY14 allocations."

Trust for America's Health is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority. www.healthyamericans.org

SOURCE Trust for America's Health