Press Release on health-related topics.
August 7, 2017
Houston Style Magazine
Dr. Shah currently holds numerous leadership positions with respected entities like the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention; Trust for America’s Health; Network for Public Health Law; and the Texas Medical Association.
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August 6, 2017
by Jenelle Aoki and Brycen Kawamoto
Honolulu Star Advertiser
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July 31, 2017
by Suman Varandani
International Business Times
According to the State of Obesity, a project by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the costs of obesity range from $147 billion to $210 billion each year. The report said, “obese adults spend 42 percent more on direct healthcare costs than adults who are a healthy weight.”
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July 30, 2017
by Suman Varandani
Yahoo! News
According to the State of Obesity, a project by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the costs of obesity range from $147 billion to $210 billion each year. The report said, “obese adults spend 42 percent more on direct healthcare costs than adults who are a healthy weight.”
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July 28, 2017
by Jon Reid
Morning Consult
“Over the next five years alone, states stand to lose over $3 billion in funding they rely on to prevent chronic disease, halt the spread of infections and epidemics, and invest in the community resources that support health and equity,” several advocacy groups — including the American Public Health Association, the Prevention Institute, the Public Health Institute, the Society of Public Health Education and Trust for America’s Health — said Thursday in a joint statement.
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Washington, D.C., July 28, 2017 – The below is a statement from John Auerbach, president and CEO, Trust for America’s Health (TFAH).
“TFAH is thankful that healthcare coverage will continue to be available for millions of Americans. We applaud the decision by the majority of senators to avoid the damaging repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). As a result, millions can breathe a sigh of relief that their coverage will not be cut, their benefits reduced and/or their premiums become unaffordable.
That said, there is a need for continued support to increase and sustain access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, covering the range of needs from life- and cost-saving preventive care to comprehensive treatment.
And, importantly, efforts must ensure the Prevention and Public Health Fund remains intact. The Prevention Fund is one of the most important and biggest sources of funding for prevention-focused efforts, comprising 12 percent of the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The Fund supports essential work at CDC and provides more than $600 million a year directly to states and communities to address their leading health concerns using the best public health approaches available. Without these funds, we are putting Americans across the country at unnecessary risk for health problems that could be prevented.”
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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.
July 27, 2017
CIDRAP
With the Senate expected to vote soon on a “skinny” repeal targeting some components of the Affordable Care Act, five public health groups today issued a statement warning about damage to the nation’s health if the bill eliminates the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF).
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July 27, 2017
by Lev Facher
Stat News
“Slashing public health and prevention funding would increase preventable suffering and death, make the poorest and sickest communities fall even further behind, and leave our country far less prepared for and capable of responding to public health emergencies,” the letter stated, signed by executives from the American Public Health Association, Prevention Institute, Public Health Institute, Society for Public Health Education, and Trust for America’s Health.
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July 27, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate is expected to soon vote on a ‘skinny’ repeal bill that would target key components of the Affordable Care Act – including potentially eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
This short-sighted move would cause long-term damage to our nation’s health. If the Prevention and Public Health Fund is eliminated, the pain of these cuts will be felt across the country, reverberating in every state and community. Over the next five years alone, states stand to lose over $3 billion in funding they rely on to prevent chronic disease, halt the spread of infections and epidemics, and invest in the community resources that support health and equity. It would cut the budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by 12 percent.
In the lives of individuals and communities, strong public health infrastructure makes the difference between health and illness, safety and injury, life and death. Slashing public health and prevention funding would increase preventable suffering and death, make the poorest and sickest communities fall even further behind, and leave our country far less prepared for and capable of responding to public health emergencies. The undersigned groups find this vision of the future unacceptable, and stand for prevention and public health.
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Washington, D.C., July 25, 2017 – The below is a statement from John Auerbach, president and CEO, of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) on the Senate’s motion to proceed.
“Each new iteration of Obamacare repeal legislation has failed to do what a health bill should: improve the nation’s health.
We know—according to the Congressional Budget Office’s scores on any number of the attempted bills—that tens of millions of people will quickly lose access to health insurance and the preventive services and programs which keep them from developing debilitating and costly chronic diseases.
That is, simply, the opposite of what a bill—intended to improve the nation’s health—should do.
Continued attempts to eliminate the Prevention and Public Health Fund would irreparably harm the nation’s health. States and communities rely on the hundreds of millions of dollars they receive annually to work on the critical health issues—including the opioid epidemic, lead poisoning, obesity, tobacco use and vaccine-preventable illnesses—facing their citizens.
To date, any funding included in repeal legislation for the opioid crisis has been nowhere near enough to solve the problem and will not make up for the substantially larger cuts to Medicaid and the Prevention Fund.
Estimates have found that the total coverage cost for people receiving treatment for substance misuse disorders could reach $220 billion over the next decade. And, people with substance misuse disorders often suffer from additional health problems – for example, mental illness and chronic conditions such as heart disease or diabetes – and need the routine access to care and services provided by Medicaid. As such, substance misuse treatment must remain part of the Medicaid integrated care system.
TFAH encourages the Administration and Congress to start over and create a true healthcare bill that will improve upon Obamacare, keep people covered and safeguard the nation’s health.”
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.
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