Health Care Funding
Written by Ashley Kelmore, Posted in Politics
So, yeah. Just a couple of items I’d like to dray to your attention.
First up, this article from today’s Seattle Times: Wake Up and Fund Public Health: “Here in Seattle and King County, an invisible infrastructure is working its magic and keeping us all relatively safe. Next time you see a public-health worker, give him or her a pat on the back.”
It comes on the heels of yesterday’s Seattle Time editorial: “Public Health’s funding woes began more than a decade ago after voters repealed the state motor-vehicle excise tax. Neither state nor federal funding has adequately filled in the gap. Grants are limited. Costs are up. Revenue is not keeping pace with inflation or population growth.”
And this evening, a friend sent me a link to this political ad:
http://youtu.be/c3D0DxjgPB0. It’s pretty intense, but it makes some good points.
Yes, I work in Public Health. I’m funded through a grant, and that money will go away in the future. But the work I have to do has to happen to make sure that people in this county can recovery from an emergency with public health impacts. That doesn’t just happen magically. Organizing that response can’t be outsourced to a private contractor. This is the work of the government, and we can’t do it if we don’t have the funds. I appreciate that people are paying attention a bit more now, but Ebola isn’t the only reason we need a strong Public Health system in this country.
