Free Government Cash

Money money money money! Money! The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been doling out the grants for prevention lately. Some this region has received and most it has not. The CDC hasn't been making grants all "willy nilly." The money goes to:

"CDC Awards $1.9 Million for State and Local Sodium Reduction Initiatives - Building on existing community policies to improve nutrition and lower blood pressure, each funded project will support implementation of at least one major sodium reduction policy as well as evaluation activities. Activities could include working with restaurants and food service suppliers, grocery stores, schools, hospitals and government facilities to develop low sodium food policies, and media campaigns to help raise awareness of the dangers of too much sodium in the diet. CDC will provide technical assistance to the awardees and help them evaluate programs and policy efforts." - Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The region does get some of the big bucks. The little petty amounts don't get our legislators up in the morning. Big states only accept large awards for even larger amounts problems. Say $30  million will be split between the big twelve (12) but for purposes of this story only the District of Columbia and Maryland will be stuffing their coffers with federal funding.

"HHS announces $30 million in new resources to support the National HIV/AIDS Strategy - Under this program, each funded jurisdiction will work with CDC to determine what mix of HIV prevention approaches can have the greatest impact in the local area – at the individual, population, and community level - based on the local profile of the epidemic and by assessing and identifying current gaps in HIV prevention portfolios. While the exact combination of approaches will vary by area, efforts funded under this program will follow a basic approach of: intensifying prevention for individuals at greatest risk, along with testing those individuals to reduce undiagnosed HIV infection; prioritizing prevention and linkage to care for people living with HIV; and directing these intensified efforts to communities with the highest burden of HIV. " - Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

But wait there's more. "More money, more problems," more funding, more and more problems that can only be solved on a national level with a national agenda. When our area representatives cry poor and broke with no cash from our Uncle Sam we can say: "Hey what about the big grants to pay for our "whatever" the feds gave us the cash to do?" The problem with that comment is that most of "the cash" will go to keep existing projects going. In order of dollars received:

In a way its a reward for a job well done or a job "well doing." If you think of it that way our Uncle isn't leaving us hanging when we're just making progress. It's not a buy yourself a new car kind of money but it is you don't have to fire your part-time staff but you will have to still make some cutbacks.

"HHS awards nearly $100 million in grants for public health and prevention priorities - The Affordable Care Act’s Prevention and Public Health Fund grants will support state and community efforts to fight obesity, increase HIV testing, promote tobacco quit lines, expand mental health and substance abuse programs and track, monitor and respond to disease outbreaks... CDC Grants -$67.7 Million - $21.6 million to promote HIV/AIDS prevention and testing ... $3.8 million in support of tobacco prevention and control... $26.4 million to strengthen epidemiology, laboratory and health information systems capacity... $6.8 Million for Capacity Building Assistance to Strengthen Public Health Infrastructure and Performance... $9.3 million in support of obesity biometric efforts... The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at HHS awarded more than $26.2 million in grants to support and promote better primary care and behavioral health services for individuals with mental illnesses or substance use disorders... HRSA GRANT - $5 Million to Address Obesity... " - Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 

The next time we see Matthew Lesko on late night TV, where has he been by the way, we'll think of the agencies rather than the individuals who depend on these government bailout or pork to keep us all healthy, wealthy and wise. Considering that the District of Columbia has no real voting power in Congress we have to be amazed at the rewards received and dismayed when none are not. We get what we pay for!