Center for Biosecurity joins 168 organizations in supporting public health provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 
[Read Statement to Congress Senate and House Conferees]
February 9, 2009
Dear Senator:
We would like to express our gratitude and support for the robust public health provisions included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, currently under consideration in the Senate. Our 168 organizations urge you to reject any amendments to strike all or part of these important provisions. As you know, the public health system has continued to experience workforce shortages, and investing in the public health sector will help stimulate job creation in the short-term and help build stronger, healthier communities. The recovery and reinvestment legislation affords the opportunity to stimulate the economy and strengthen our investment in health infrastructure and workforce while promoting disease prevention. Toward that end, we urge you to support the $5.8 billion currently allocated in the legislation for prevention and wellness.
As you know, the U.S. spends more than any other nation on health care—over $2 trillion annually—yet we lag behind many other countries in key indicators of health, including life expectancy. To reverse this trend, we need to drastically change our health care system and reorient it towards prevention and wellness. Investing in prevention and research can help stave off the onset of many costly diseases and avoid the need for treatment of expensive complications of diseases.
Controlling health care costs will be critical to getting the country's economy back on track. Fundamental health care reform, particularly reform that focuses on ways to keep Americans healthier, must be part of solving our current financial crisis. Funding for public health and disease prevention in the stimulus bill is a down payment toward reducing health care costs over the long term. The investment will create new jobs and help revitalize the infrastructure of state, local, and community-based programs aimed at reducing rates of disease. At the same time, these programs can help reduce health care costs. Further, evidence suggests that community-based and clinical preventive interventions promote and facilitate healthy lifestyles, and offer an effective means for the primary prevention of many chronic conditions.
Our nation needs a healthy and productive population to meet the challenges of the future, and rebound from these difficult times. An investment in public health will put us on a preferred path of prevention and wellness. Moreover, the evaluation and accountability components in the this bill will allow for an assessment of progress toward improving health so that best practices can be disseminated, lessons can be learned, and successful interventions can be replicated. This will help guide future efforts which will enable the implementation of the most effective programs to improve health and reduce health care costs. To stimulate job creation in the health field and fully capitalize on the opportunity to promote health, we ask that you include the full $5.8 billion in the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Active Transportation Alliance (IL) Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors | Hepatitis C Association |