Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Press Release



According to the Los Angeles Times 'Sequester' cuts to hit healthcare hard and MSNBC Sequestration will be hazardous to our health, the sequestrations $85 billion budget cut will greatly affect healthcare, causing loss of jobs, less access to healthcare, and even more public health problems around the world.

THE SEQUESTRATION'S $85 BILLION FEDERAL CUT MAKES BIG IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE



By Desirae Tainatongo
March 3, 2013

NORTHRIDGE, C.A. – Issued by the Obama administration there will be federal cuts of $85 billion dollars, healthcare taking the biggest cut for nondefense. The budget cut starting March 1, 2013 is expected to have a major impact on healthcare affecting not just healthcare providers, but people all across the globe.

Even though Medicaid and CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program) are not going to be part of the $85 billion budget cut this year, children, women, and men in the United States and around the world will still be greatly affected. According to Geoffrey Cowley writing for MSNBC, the sequestration will cause a $2.6 billion in yearly cuts for the State Department and USAID, which will eliminate $600 million in humanitarian assistance and global health programs. And that “The international ONE Campaign estimates that the cuts to global HIV/AIDS programs could force 170,000 people off of their AIDS medications this year, causing 37,000 rapid deaths in poor countries and orphaning 74,000 children.”  Global health programs that help people around the world through education, health services, and food will no longer be. Instead thousands will suffer from untreated or under treated diseases, which can lead to death, which can leave many children parent-less.

National public health will also have its share of cuts; in fact Noam N. Levey of the Los Angeles Times writes that approximately 46,000 public health jobs have been eliminated in the last five years. Now with the new budget cuts even more jobs are expected to be cut. Levey writes that scientists from major universities and medical centers are already being laid off, many who were researching chronic and infectious diseases. With the laying off of these scientists’ many research programs and studies will be coming to a halt or will be delayed.

If limited access to healthcare wasn't hard enough for some people, it will be even more difficult with the cuts affecting services such as tests and screenings. Cowley writes that it is estimated that WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) will have 600,000 to 775,000 women and children who will lose nutrition assistance, 34,000 middle-age women will no longer have federally screening tests, and that 7,400 low-income Americans will be put on waiting lists to receive treatment.

Noam N. Levey of the Los Angeles Times writes that CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that this month’s cuts could cause 424,000 fewer HIV tests by state and local health programs the agency funds. With 424,000 fewer HIV tests many people can have HIV and not know it which can cause a faster spread of HIV than before the budget cuts, only making the jobs of healthcare workers more difficult.

With frequent mass shootings in the past year in schools and public areas, mental health has come to the attention of many Americans who think that more focus needs to be put on mental health. However with mental health taking a hit from budget cuts, more attention and time might not be posible. Crowley writes that “373,000 children and adults with serious mental illness will lose services that help prevent hospitalization and homelessness.”

As for the elderly and the disabled covered by Medicare, it is written by Crowley that the Health and Human Services Department is expected to cut about $15.5 billion, with about two-thirds of that coming from Medicare. This is only a 2% cut of Medicare, however two-thirds of $15.5 billion is still a lot of money that will affect many elerdly and disabled people.

Not only are programs directly dealing with medical research and the public health are affected, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) also has to make major sacrifices. Crowley writes that “By cutting the FDA’s budget by 8%, the sequester will force the agency to cancel about 2,100 inspections of food manufacturing facilities this year.” And with “Contaminated food sicken[ing] 48 million Americans each year…” the rise of this 48 million is expected to increase because of the sequestration.

As MSNBC’s headline states the “Sequestration will be hazardous to our health.”

Desirae Tainatongo is Public Health major at California State University of Northridge who is writing/blogging about political issues dealing with women’s health for her English 306 class.
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