President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010. Under Section 4002 of this Act, the Prevention and Public Health Fund was established. The Fund’s establishment made it the United States’ first compulsory funding stream devoted to improving the American public health system. In a recent move by The U.S. House of Representatives , however, the Prevention and Public Health Fund comes under the threat of legislation aiming at its defunding to cater for the costs of the reauthorization of other essential health programs such as the National Health Service Corps.
To effectively advocate for the upholding of the Prevention and Public Health Fund and its strengthening through increased funding, I would first clearly define my goals to reflect the required change, the short and long-term objectives, my target audience and the requirements for the execution of the change I seek. Such requirements would include changes in legislation, regulations and funding. Important to consider would also be the crafting of my message to be precise while providing factual evidence, economic arguments and benefits. For instance, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), draws up to twelve percent of its financing from the Fund. Defunding the Fund would, therefore, translate to a devastation of the agency's financial resources. More money facilitates more healthcare research, which in extension, results in more jobs and more saved lives.
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The success of my advocacy would depend largely on the support of the public policymakers. While taking into account that political action is not always swayed by science, in my advocacy, I would assertively engage relevant legislators. I would provide them with local statistics, the deployment and utilization of federal resource at the local level and the specific legislative actions that would need to be acted upon. I would urge members of Congress who serve on the Appropriations Committees of the U.S House and Senate to protect the local public health services and prevention programs. This would be possible through their support against legislation aimed at cutting funds for the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
Despite the U.S. health care costs rising rapidly over the last decades, we cannot afford to undercut investments in public health and prevention. Reforms aimed at increasing access to healthcare while reducing the health care costs need to be adopted, with sufficient funding injected into programs such as the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which help in the prevention of diseases in the first place. Carefully planned advocacy, therefore, needs to be executed, with a conspicuous involvement of legislators who determine the nation's health policies in their public policy legislation.
