This is a 3 minute request but we need you to call Senator Collins's office right now and express your disappointment and disapproval of the $3 billion of public health funding she has removed from the Federal Stimulus package.  MPHA is working on our collective behalf to express our dire concerns to her office, but we need your voice as individuals as well.  It has never been as important! 

Below are some talking points and at the end of this e-mail you will find her office phone numbers.  Please, ACT NOW!

BACKGROUND
The House bill contains $3 billion for the Prevention and Wellness Fund to support state, local and community prevention and workforce development programs. The Senate bill does not include any funding. MPHA supports the House approach which will enable Governors to create and preserve state and local public health jobs.  MPHA is also working on our collective behalf to talk to Collins's office staff in order to express our dire concerns for the health of this nation but we need your individual voices as well. 

TALKING POINTS
• Keeping people healthier is one of the most important ways to lower health care costs. How healthy Americans are is inextricably tied to the nation’s economy. Fundamental health care reform, particularly reform that focused on ways to keep Americans healthier, is essential to solving the America’s current financial crisis.  Many prevention programs have been shown to help reduce disease rates while reducing health care costs.

• More Than 20,000 Public Health Jobs Hang in the Balance; More than 11,000 Workers Have Already Been Laid Off. The proposed stimulus money is needed to restore jobs, limit layoffs, and create new jobs. The funding proposed in the House bill could directly save or create more than 20,000 public health positions. As states, local governments, and communities are hit with economic hard times, they have already laid off more than 11,000 public health workers and left over 10,000 jobs vacant, and at least as many layoffs are expected in the coming year. In addition, by funding the expansion of targeted, effective community-based disease prevention programs, additional new jobs will be created directly in the communities they are serving.

o Growth Industry Jobs: The types of jobs the public health funding would support are in one of the nation’s only growth industries -- the health sector.

o Jobs for Women: The funding for public health would help support the female labor forces, since 75 percent of the public health workforce is women. A large portion of the other stimulus funding supports construction and male-dominated industries.

• Funding Would Have Immediate Payoff in Jobs and Bolstering the Public Health Supporting Infrastructure in Communities. The funding would support existing programs, where mechanisms are in place to get the money out quickly so it can have an immediate impact on the economy. Some of these programs include the Prevention Block Grants, Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, and Healthy Communities Grants, where money goes to state and local health departments and community health organizations.

• Support for the Health Safety Net for the Unemployed, Uninsured, and Underinsured. During the economic down term, support for public health is needed to provide a safety net for the uninsured and underinsured, whose numbers are growing as unemployment rates rise. Public health agencies help fill in the gaps for care for basic health services as well as programs aimed at reducing rates of diabetes, heart disease, and other major diseases in communities. The House version of the stimulus contains $3 billion for preventive services, which would help maintain the health of families and communities hard hit during the recession.

• Funding is Also a Down Payment on Controlling Health Care Costs in the Long Term. The public health stimulus funding is also a down payment toward reducing health care costs over the long term. The stimulus investment in public health will also have wide and far reaching impact, by helping improve the productivity of the U.S. workforce and contain the skyrocketing costs of health care. Containing health care costs is one of the most important factors for improving the U.S. economy. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, rising health care costs are the single largest cause of rapidly rising federal expenditures.

Thanks in advance for your actions. 
 
DC Office:
Main: (202) 224-2523

Caribou State Office:
Main: (207) 493-7873

Bangor State Office:
Main: (207) 945-0417

Augusta State Office:
Main: (207) 622-8414

Lewiston State Office:
Main: (207) 784-6969

Biddeford State Office:
Main: (207) 283-1101

Portland State Office:
Main: (207) 780-3575