Most of us recognize that healthcare for 22 million Americans is still on the chopping block as Mitch McConnell and Trump renew their push to get the GOP’s destructive health bill passed this month. McConnell is twisting arms and even threatening to cancel the Senate’s August recess as leverage. The bill is even more egregious, having been drafted by a small group of white men, behind closed doors. People protest at a "Bridging the Gap For Healthcare Rally" (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images) As if gutting health insurance for millions is not bad enough, tucked away in the Senate bill and not widely known, are proposed cuts that threaten public health for even more people. Under the so-called “Better Care” Reconciliation Act of 2017 is a section that would repeal the Prevention and Public Health Fund. This is the source of more than 12% of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) budget, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). The fund is used for critically important projects, including reducing hospital-associated infections, fighting antibiotic resistance and funding rapid response teams and vaccinations. Each of these cuts is counterproductive and will be more costly in the end. The cuts to immunization programs are particularly evil, and further Trump’s anti-science and anti-vaccination policies. Section 317 is the program, administered by the CDC, that pays for vaccines and distributes them to the states to immunize poor children. The recent outbreaks of measles in unvaccinated children is a glimpse of how foolhardy this is. In the past year, 35 European children died from this readily preventable infection. In the Minneapolis area, there are 78 cases already this year, surpassing last year’s total. Cases were fueled by anti-vaccination groups targeting the Somali community with misinformation about the side effects of the vaccine. Last year saw an outbreak in Arizona, fueled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staffers at a private detention center. This private company—funded with public tax dollars—further compounded the problem by refusing to cooperate with public health officials. Measles is not a harmless childhood infection. It results in costly hospitalization in up to 25% of cases, per the CDC. It can cause deafness and a progressive and deadly brain infection called SSPE. It’s unsurprising, then, that a report by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) speaks of funding Section 317 as “protecting a national asset.” They note, “Society saves $13.6 billion in direct healthcare costs, 42,000 lives are saved and 20 million cases of disease are prevented” for each group of children who were fully immunized. Tell me again why the GOP would cut this relatively small $600 million program? In addition to funding vaccinations, Section 317 supports epidemiologic surveillance and outbreak investigation and control. Worried about bird flu coming from Asia? Ebola? Zika? You damn well should be. Monitoring and control will be slashed by the Senate proposal and outbreaks of illness (infectious and other) will undoubtedly worsen. (I just saw this in rural Pennsylvania which had more than 70 overdoses from K2, a synthetic marijuana, last weekend alone). One in 25 hospital patients have at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI) on a given day. Per the CDC, there were an estimated 722,000 HAIs in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011. Additionally, about 75,000 patients with HAIs died during their hospitalizations. Hospital-acquired infections are expensive and devastating. I see that every day that I work, with people losing their legs, their ability to remain independent or their lives. Yet all of the CDC funds to try to reduce these infections are at risk under the GOP plan. Antibiotic-resistant superbugs are a growing threat as well, with at least 2 million cases of infection each year in the U.S. They are difficult to treat and often require prolonged hospitalization and toxic antibiotics. About 23,000 people die annually. Funding to try to control this also comes under the Section 317 program. The proposed cuts to the ACA will leave 22 million more Americans without health insurance. Additional cuts to Medicaid will particularly hurt children, the elderly and those with disabilities. These planned budget cuts are unconscionable—particularly given that savings will go to tax cuts for the wealthiest rather than meeting basic health needs of the public. There is little time. If this bill becomes law, it will kill far more people and cost far more than all the foreign terrorist attacks that have occurred on the USA. If you agree that this bill is a disaster-in-the-making, call your Senator NOW and urge him or her to put the needs of you, their constituent, first. Senators can be reached at (202) 224–3121 or here.
Most of us recognize that healthcare for 22 million Americans is still on the chopping block as Mitch McConnell and Trump renew their push to get the GOP’s destructive health bill passed this month. But what about those who are not covered by Medicaid?