House GOP Targets Prevention Programs That Save Money, Lives

As the GOP claims to move us toward a more "sustainable" financial future by slashing funding for numerous health programs, someone might want to clue them in on the old adage, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Under attack are family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood, community health centers, farm-to-school lunch programs and tobacco prevention measures. It doesn't take more than a rudimentary understanding of population health to understand that cutting programs like these will almost certainly lead to more spending in the future, as preventable disease and health care costs rise.

One of their targets is the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which backs scientifically-supported measures for disease prevention, like halting tobacco use, curbing the obesity epidemic, promoting better nutrition and physical activity. The Fund supports programs that increase fruit and vegetable consumption in schools, improves physical education programs for kids and helps communities source healthful food locally.

Despite these seemingly uncontroversial ideas, last year, Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, a medical doctor, called the program a "slush fund" and claimed that it was part of health care reform (a good enough reason to attack it). But the program isn't part of reform; it chiefly aims to prevent disease and therefore, contain health care costs. However, the GOP's newest proposals would wipe out any increases to the fund.

They are also proposing to cut $1.3 billion in funding for community health centers, even though they have been shown to improve quality and substantially reduce health care costs by providing primary care and preventive services.

Perhaps the most notorious move is the recent proposal to completely eliminate funding for the Title X family planning programs. This is a targeted attack on places like Planned Parenthood, and is part of the GOP's multi-pronged strategy to reduce reproductive choice. But Planned Parenthood does much more than just provide abortions (and federal funds have never gone to pay for abortions); it provides STD screening and treatment, breast and cervical cancer screenings, patient education, and contraception.

Like community health clinics, Title X family planning clinics play a critical role in providing services to those that might not otherwise be able to afford them. Rooted in the community, these centers help assist in reproductive health and healthy pregnancies but also prevention of unwanted pregnancies. And with the GOP's all-out assault on abortions -- through their "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" and "Protect Life Act" -- it seems that would be in line with their goals.

But the proposed cuts aren't about "returning our nation to a sustainable financial path," as Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers said in a statement. If anything, cutting funding for all these programs may look like savings in the short-term, but will result in long-term outlays of significant expense. Clearly an unsustainable future.

These penny-wise, pound-foolish moves are all about two things -- defunding the health care reform and limiting women's reproductive choice. Take a stand for prevention and women's health by urging your Representative against cuts to Planned Parenthood.

Photo credit: tjmwatson