Shortchanging America's health: a state-by-state look at how public health dollars are spent and key state health facts
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Issue report (Trust for America's Health)
- Author(s):
- Levi, Jeffrey, author St. Laurent, Rebecca, author Segal, Laura M., author Vinter, Serena, author
- Contributor(s):
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, issuing body. Trust for America's Health, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, DC : Trust for America's Health, March 2010
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Financing, Government -- statistics & numerical data Public Health -- economics Federal Government Health Expenditures -- statistics & numerical data Health Status Indicators Local Government Public Health -- legislation & jurisprudence State Government Humans United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- To gain a better understanding for how to modernize public health in America, in this report Trust for America's Health (TFAH) examines public health funding in the United States, key health facts in states, and recommendations for new approaches to promoting health and wellness. The report shows that public health funding is low across the country, but that it is substantially lower in some communities than others, which can exacerbate health differences. TFAH found a wide variation in federal, state, and local funding for public health, including: (1) DIFFERENCES IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR STATES: Federal public health spending through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) averaged out to only $19.23 per person in FY 2009. And the amount of federal funding spent to prevent disease and improve health in communities ranged significantly from state to state, with a per capita low of $13.33 in Virginia to a high of $58.65 in Alaska. (2) DIFFERENCES IN STATE FUNDING: This report also examined state funding and found that the median amount in state fiscal years 2008-2009 for public health equaled only $28.92 per person, with ranges from a low of $3.55 per person in Nevada to a high of $169.92 per person in Hawaii. (3) DIFFERENCES IN LOCAL FUNDING: A recent analysis by professors at the Department of Health Policy & Management at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences found that local public health spending was $29.57 per capita for the median community in 2005, and that rate was virtually unchanged in over a decade. Spending in the lowest 20 percent of communities averaged only around $8 per person, while the top 20 percent spent an average of $102 per person, which is nearly 13 times higher than in the lowest quintile.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (32 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101528471 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101528471