Dear Colleague:

As you know, the Senate health care legislation was finally released to the public this morning. We are in the midst of reviewing the bill, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score which will help assess its impact on insurance coverage is expected Monday. However, it is believed that like the House bill (which would cause 23 million Americans to lose coverage), this bill will result in greater number of uninsured people due to deep cuts to Medicaid and less generous subsidies to purchase private health insurance plans. As you know, this alone would have incredibly harmful effects on health by reducing access to clinical preventive services and delaying or blocking treatment for a myriad of diseases and conditions for millions of Americans.

Unfortunately, we can confirm that the Senate "Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017" is even worse news than the House bill for the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The Senate bill would eliminate the Prevention Fund starting in just a few short months (starting fiscal year 2018, which begins October 2017). As you know, this would result in a 12 percent cut to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding and have horrendous impacts for health departments, communities, and others who depend on this funding to conduct core public health activities - like immunizing children and responding to infectious diseases.

We urge you to take action immediately to #ProtectPrevention:

• If you have not already, please sign your organization to our sign-on letter to the Senate in opposition to cuts to the Prevention Fund by this Friday at the very latest.

• Please call (202) 224-3121 and tweet your members of Congress now and tell them to vote against these bills - least of which because they are extremely harmful to the public health community.
  • You can find state-by-state information, facts, and talking points here.

We are at a critical juncture in the debate in Washington and your voice is needed now more than ever. Thank you for your help and support.

Best,
Becky

Becky Salay
Director of Government Relations
Trust for America's Health