ACA repeal sparks local health concern

While the Jackson County Department of Public Health is not currently cutting any programs in its proposed budget for Jackson County (although that can always change), there are looming questions about President Donald Trump's proposed budget and the possible repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Specifically, what many do not know is that approximately $931 million in traditional public-health funding has been rolled into the ACA.

These dollars help pay for local public-health prevention initiatives, such as childhood immunizations, chronic-disease prevention, diabetes prevention, heart-disease prevention, stroke prevention, lead-poisoning prevention, public-health epidemiology, laboratory capacity and more.

There is approximately $20 million in federal public-health dollars at stake for North Carolina and about $97,656 for Jackson County.

These core public-health funds not only support the programs mentioned, but the ability of local communities nationwide to address rapidly emerging infectious diseases, such as ZIKA, hepatitis C, measles, mumps, meningitis, influenza, coronavirus (MERS), antibiotic-resistant infections and more. The last one, antibiotic resistant infections, includes tuberculosis, salmonella, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and more.

Additional federal funds ? which were promised in the ACA to aid state and local public-health programs in building capacity and infrastructure and improving the health of the nation ? have never come to fruition.

In addition, state and local public-health programs have been, and continue to be, underfunded due to waning support at the federal level.

Significant cuts in nondefense discretionary programs ? including public health ? impact an array of disease-prevention and health-promotion activities and contribute to the loss of public-health infrastructure across the nation.

The Jackson County Department of Public Health, along with members of our local Board of Health, are concerned about the prevention- and public-health funds within the ACA being eliminated without considering the impact on these important public health initiatives.

What we don't want to happen is for state and local public health to be inadvertently harmed by across-the-board elimination of these critical infrastructure funds.

President Trump's budget could seriously impact on our budget in the Health Department. The repeal of the ACA would harm state and local public-health efforts to promote, protect and enhance the health of Jackson County citizens.

Shelley Carraway is director of Jackson County Public Health.