Health care reform: Public health gets into the mix

Now that the health care reform bill is law, the money is out there and waiting to be spent. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care law, previously H.R. 3590, provided for a $15 billion prevention fund. Nonprofit organizations and public health officials are now looking to allocate those funds, and there is quite a bit of competition for the money.

This article from MSNBC and this one from Kaiser Health News discusses some of the pulls from different organizations. Paul Jarris, Exec Director of ASTHO (Association for State & Territorial Health Officials), is pushing for a big chunk of the fund to go directly to state and local health departments, who are hurting from the economy, having to cut back services and experiencing severe capacity problems. This table from ASTHO shows the various public health funding opportunities in the law.

Take a look - it's a lot of money, and a lot of organizations and agencies deserve some of it. But... a lot don't. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.