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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana ranks last among states in getting federal funds to prevent disease and injuries, according to a report from two not-for-profit groups released yesterday.
Indiana collected just $12.74 per person last year from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for programs to inhibit disease and prevention programs, the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said in the report.
Indiana’s share was less than three-quarters of the national average of $17.60, but was close to the average for Midwestern states of $17.69.
The report came as no surprise to Indiana Health Commissioner Dr. Judy Monroe. Indiana traditionally ranks near the bottom in CDC prevention funding, a legacy of the state’s failure to invest more in public health or to create a university-level school of public health that would attract experts, she said.
“We’re a little bit between a rock and a hard place,” Monroe said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where she was meeting with other public health officials.
The report suggested that when governments cut public health programs to solve short-term budget problems, there can have long-term consequences for health and government spending because it costs more to treat people once they’re sick than to prevent illness.
“It’s no wonder our [national] health care costs are so high, because our priorities are upside down,” Jeff Levi, executive director of the trust, an advocacy group, said in a teleconference.
Indiana’s poor showing is not new: It also ranked last in a similar report in 2005 and very near the bottom in 2006 and 2008.
Monroe cited a number of factors: Midwestern states generally receive less CDC funding than states in other regions, and prevention programs are overshadowed by Indiana’s good hospitals and the Indiana University School of Medicine. Also, Indiana doesn’t have a public health institute, and none of its universities has a public health school to draw expertise.
With no infrastructure, there’s little staff to carry out programs, deterring the CDC from giving more money to Indiana, she said.
“That’s a big problem for Indiana,” Monroe said.
Rep. Charlie Brown (D-Gary), chairman of the House Public Health Committee, said Gov. Mitch Daniels must take some blame for the low level of CDC funding.
“Why is it that Indiana is dead last in trying to recoup the federal funds it sends to Washington?” Brown said. “Why haven’t we turned it around in this administration, in light of the need?”
The report said Indiana has a higher rate of smoking than all but three states and ranks 11th in obesity – both are leading causes of heart disease – but spent only $44,021 on heart disease prevention last year.
Monroe said Indiana has tried to get CDC funding to prevent cardiovascular disease but has never received it. She said the state made an important gain last year when it received anti-obesity funding from the CDC for the first time. It will receive $2 million over five years.
Levi, of the Trust for America’s Health, said only 23 states received CDC funding in that area, only 12 got money to fight arthritis, and only 22 got funds for comprehensive school public health programs.
“The CDC has not had enough money to go around,” Levi said.
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