Sign on: Tell our Legislators to Stand up for Community Prevention
The Prevention and Public Health Fund--the nation's greatest source of dedicated prevention funding--remains at risk. House leadership instructed several committees to find a package of "savings"--to the tune of $18 billion in the first year alone--as an alternative to sequestration cuts. With directives to eliminate "government slush funds," the House Energy and Commerce committee voted to eliminate the Fund on April 25 with a party-line vote of 30-22. On May 10, the House of Representatives passed the full sequestration reconciliation package of "savings," including the elimination of the Fund with a vote of 218-199. The passed measure not only eliminates the Fund entirely, but also rescinds any of the Fund's unobligated dollars. We are disappointed that the House has turned its back on prevention (read our Executive Director Larry Cohen's statement on the proposed elimination). Though the measure may go on to the Senate for consideration, the Administration has issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) that indicates that the President will veto the sequestration reconciliation package.
In yet another development in the ongoing strategy to dismantle prevention efforts across the country, the House passed a measure on April 27 to use the Fund as an offset for student loan hikes. Fortunately, the Administration has issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) unequivocally stating that the President would veto the measure if it uses the Fund's elimination as an offset.
There is no doubt that the Fund is at risk of being eliminated from multiple fronts--and we can't let this happen.
The Prevention and Public Health Fund moves our country towards a system that improves health, saves lives, reduces costs and strengthens our country--we simply can't afford to go backwards. We need your leadership and ongoing engagement to protect prevention.
We urge you to protect the Prevention and Public Health Fund, our nation’s historic investment in public health and wellness. In a recent vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a measure to eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The proposal not only eliminates the Fund entirely, but also rescinds any of the Fund's unobligated dollars.
The Prevention and Public Health Fund moves our country towards a system that improves health, saves lives, reduces costs and strengthens our country--we simply can't afford to go backwards. We need your leadership and ongoing engagement to protect prevention.
A sicker, less productive nation is not the way to control debt. Yet that is what the future holds in store if we eliminate today’s smart—and modest—investments in prevention. The Prevention and Public Health Fund ensures that our children, families and communities will not continue to suffer from preventable chronic diseases that are currently responsible for seven in ten deaths each year and account for more than 75% of the nation's health care spending. By creating a healthier, more productive workforce, the Prevention and Public Health Fund holds the key to a truly flourishing economy—without it, US businesses will continue to spend $73 billion dollars a year on preventable chronic diseases. It is through the Prevention and Public Health Fund that we will achieve the promise of building healthy communities that will reduce the burden and demand on our health care system in the first place.
The Fund moves us towards a system that improves health, saves lives, reduces costs, and strengthens our country—we simply cannot afford to go backward. Decreasing the Prevention Fund is a short-term solution that will cost money--not save it. An economic analysis reveals that every dollar we divert from prevention will cost us as much as five dollars down the road. By reducing health expenditures and need in the first place, investing in comprehensive prevention is the solution to bending the healthcare cost curve.
Support for prevention is solid across the country. Seventy-five percent of the American people back community prevention, and support is even stronger for the kinds of efforts local communities to pursuing through the Prevention Fund. Thanks to national community prevention efforts, over 55 million people—one in six Americans—have better access to fresh and affordable fruits and vegetables, safe spaces for children to play and be physically active, and smoke-free spaces where kids and families can breathe easier.
We ask that you reject calls for eliminating the Fund. If we want our children, families, communities and our economy to thrive and flourish, we must do so by investing in what works, not cutting it.