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Butterfield Sends Letters to OMB and CDC, Urging Protection of Minority Health Programs

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01) joined more than 40 colleagues on Friday to send letters to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urging the protection of critical federal programs that address ethnic and racial health disparities.  Such programs as the Area Health Education Centers and the Health Careers Opportunity Program remain vital to minority and underserved communities, but face significant budget cuts regardless of whether sequestration occurs.

In a letter to the CDC the Representatives wrote, “As Members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure our constituents have access to and receive the best possible medical care, prevention, and treatment available.  We strongly support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's mission of collaborating to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health.  Unfortunately, fiscal concerns require the CDC to make difficult choices.  We encourage you to continue the CDC’s investment in programs to address the public health challenges facing our under-represented and under-served populations.”

The full text of both letters follows.

Mr. Jeffrey Zients

Acting Director

Deputy Director for Management and Chief Performance Officer

Office of Management and Budget

 

Dear Acting Director Zients:

We appreciate your July 10, 2012 op-ed in Politico which forcefully points out that sequestration as called for in the Budget Control Act of 2011 would be “devastating” for “domestic investments.” We could not agree more, and like you, we remain hopeful that sequestration will be avoided.  However, regardless of whether sequestration takes place or whether a budget agreement is struck after the election, there will be immense pressure on Congress and the Administration over the coming months to reduce spending, especially discretionary spending.

As you make budgetary decisions for the remainder of the Fiscal Year and plan for the President’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014, we strongly urge you to consider the impact of discretionary spending cuts on the many critical programs that address ethnic and racial health disparities.  As you surely know, the cost and impact of health disparities is already severe, even before any additional funding cuts are made.  There are credible estimates that health disparities cost the country as much as $300 billion a year and there are many Americans who suffer unnecessarily because they do not have access to the care they need.  For example, even though African-Americans make-up only 13.6% of the U.S. population, they account for 43% of all AIDS infections, according to the Office of Minority Health (OMH).  In addition, according to OMH, African-Americans over 65 are 30% less likely to have received a flu shot in the past 12 months or to have ever received a pneumonia shot and African-American mothers are 2.3 times more likely to begin prenatal care in the third trimester, or not receive prenatal care at all. 

Those extremely alarming figures illustrate that much more needs to be done to address ethnic and racial health disparities, even with the passage of the Affordable Care Act.  At a minimum, we strongly believe that the United States must continue to invest in the programs that are critical to addressing health disparities in our communities and across the country, including:

  • Minority Health:  The Office of Minority Health (OMH) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) have been absolutely critical to identifying racial and ethnic health disparities and creating and implementing programs to address those disparities.  Without OMH and NIMHD we likely would not know how serious the problem is, but with a robust and fully funded OMH and NIMHD, we can identify problems and develop cost-effective solutions.
  • Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP):  We were disappointed that the Fiscal Year 2013 budget zeroed out HCOP funding and we strongly urge the administration to reconsider that decision.  HCOP has been instrumental in helping individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds become health professionals and we know that those health professionals often use their education to help those with similar backgrounds. With more and more Americans from racial and ethnic minorities obtaining health insurance – thanks to the Affordable Care Act – programs like HCOP will make it possible for them to visit health professionals who are available and able to care for them.
  • Area Health Education Centers (AHEC):  Congress created the AHEC program in 1971 to recruit, train and retain health professionals committed to taking care of underserved populations.  In Georgia, for example, Morehouse School of Medicine has been leading an AHEC program since 1984 with significant results in terms of increasing diversity and improving distribution, retention and the quality of health care professionals in underserved areas.  Like HCOP, supporting the AHEC program will help the millions of Americans who will be able to obtain health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
  • Prevention Research Centers (PRCs):  The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) supports 37 PRC’s associated with schools of public health or medicine to conduct applied public health research.  That research leads to innovative ways to address profound health care challenges, especially those challenges that confront racial and ethnic minorities.  PRCs continue to be a necessary component of our efforts to address health disparities and robust funding makes it possible for PRCs to carry out their mission.
  • Historically Black Academic Medical Centers:  Historically Black Academic Medical Centers, including Morehouse School of Medicine, Meharry Medical College, and Howard University College of Medicine have long served as institutions increasing the pipeline of diverse health professionals providing culturally competent care to patients across the United States. Without these institutions, the disparities in health care and health status among racial and ethnic minorities would increase significantly.

As you know perhaps better than anyone, we have many difficult decisions to make about the federal budget.  But in making those decisions, we cannot lose sight of the fundamental role the government must play in helping the most vulnerable.  The programs mentioned above and others are critical to addressing racial and ethnic health disparities.  By investing in these programs and addressing disparities today, we can improve health outcomes and save money tomorrow. 

Sincerely,

Representatives Johnson (GA), Christensen, Lee, Grijalva, Butterfield, Norton, Hahn, Rangel, Davis, Clarke (MI), Moore, Conyers, Hinojosa, Towns, Lofgren, Johnson (TX), Loretta Sanchez, Chu, Cohen, Rush, Bordallo, Lewis (GA), Tonko, Brown (FL), Waters, Sewell, Napolitano, Honda, Lynch, Wilson (FL), Slaughter, Fattah, Schakowsky, Bass, Bishop, Clarke (NY), Costa, Cummings, Holt, Cleaver, Roybal-Allard, Brady, Nadler, Fudge, Clay, Sires, Eshoo, Linda Sanchez,  and Hanabusa.

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Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH

Director

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Road

Atlanta, GA 30333

 

Dear Dr. Frieden:

As Members of Congress, it is our responsibility to ensure our constituents have access to and receive the best possible medical care, prevention, and treatment available.  We strongly support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) mission of collaborating to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health.  Unfortunately, fiscal concerns require the CDC to make difficult choices.  We encourage you to continue the CDC’s investment in programs to address the public health challenges facing our under-represented and under-served populations.

As the Director of the CDC, you are well aware that racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by many social determinants of health that need immediate care and attention.  Minority populations face grave disparities in health care and health status, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS.  African Americans represent only 13.6% of the U.S. population; however, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), they accounted for almost half of HIV infection cases.  Additionally, while Latinos accounted for 20% of new HIV infections, they represent 16% of total US population, according to CDC statistics.  The CDC also states that cardiovascular disease - primarily heart disease and stroke - causes more deaths in Americans of both sexes that comprise these racial and ethnic groups. When compounded with the approximately 83,000 racial and ethnic minorities dying each year as well as the cost of health disparities in the U.S., which equates to $300 billion per year, we cannot afford to leave this critical issue unattended. 

The CDC currently supports many initiatives that aim to address these health care concerns, including the Prevention Research Centers and the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) programs.  We are aware that these programs have seen a decrease in funding and that there are efforts to terminate these and other programs that aim to improve the health and longevity of our disenfranchised citizens. Many of these programs focus specifically on education and prevention, which ultimately is one of the first lines of defense in the fight to eliminate disparities.  By reducing funding to these programs, the CDC undermines years of investment in supporting these targeted population. It is, therefore imperative that the CDC continue to support these and other similar initiatives, so that we can continue to appropriately and effectively address racial and ethnic health disparities.

Please let us know of a convenient time when we can discuss this matter in further detail.

Sincerely,

Representatives Johnson (GA), Christensen, Lee, Grijalva, Butterfield, Norton, Hahn, Rangel, Davis, Clarke (MI), Moore, Conyers, Hinojosa, Towns, Lofgren, Johnson (TX), Loretta Sanchez, Chu, Cohen, Rush, Bordallo, Lewis (GA), Tonko, Brown (FL), Waters, Sewell, Napolitano, Honda, Lynch, Wilson (FL), Slaughter, Fattah, Schakowsky, Bass, Bishop, Clarke (NY), Costa, Cummings, Holt, Cleaver, Roybal-Allard, Brady, Nadler, Fudge, Clay, Sires, Eshoo, Linda Sanchez,  and Hanabusa.

 

http://Butterfield.House.Gov

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