Legislature

“A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information. Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA. The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic tests are part of a ‘workplace wellness’ program.”

“Without a comparable replacement, or appropriation of additional funds, at least $3 billion will be cut from state and local public health departments alone over the next five years through funds allocated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An additional $2 billion in federal resources would be lost to a number of other prevention-oriented activities across the entire public health enterprise. This $5 billion is essential to core public health programs that keep Americans healthy and safe every day and makes up 12 percent of CDC’s annual budget, supporting disease tracking, access to immunizations for those most in need, and preventing and addressing lead poisoning, among other priorities.”

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would lose 12 percent of its annual budget if the Prevention and Public Health Fund, part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), were repealed, according to an analysis by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH). States would end up losing more than $3 billion over the next five years – from grants and programs supported by the Prevention Fund. The $890 million gap in CDC’s annual funding created by eliminating the Prevention Fund could not be filled under current laws without drawing funds away from other Department of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services programs.” Bottomline: more disease, more injuries, more preventable deaths.