The House of Representatives has recommended a highly inadequate increase for viral hepatitis prevention.
Our best chance to get a bigger increase is with the Senate.
Do not miss this opportunity to tell your Senators to support an increase of up to $50 million for viral hepatitis prevention in FY2010.
YOU MUST CONTACT YOUR SENATORS NOW
On July 28th, the Senate will begin to mark up the FY2010 Labor-HHS-Education bill which includes funding for viral hepatitis prevention. Mark up is when the Labor-HHS-Education bill will be first voted on at the Appropriations subcommittee level and from there will go to the full Appropriations committee and then to the Senate floor for a final vote. Mark up is an important part of the bill’s process because it allows for amendments that may revise the bill’s language and potentially change the level of funding to a higher or lower level. This represents an opportunity for Congress to provide critical funding to address the hepatitis B and C epidemics facing our nation.
The President’s 2010 Budget proposed the slightest funding increase of $51,000 for viral hepatitis prevention. The House FY2010 Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill provides a $1.8 million increase to CDC’s viral hepatitis program, bringing its total budget to $20.1 million. While any increase is needed and appreciated, this amount falls far short of what is needed to mount a serious fight against viral hepatitis.
We continue to focus our advocacy on viral hepatitis prevention because CDC only receives $18.3 million for a disease impaction of over six million Americans. Most people living with hepatitis B and over three-fourths of people living with hepatitis C do not know that they are infected. States and cities receive an average federal funding award of $90,000. This is only enough for a staff position and not for the provision of core prevention services that are essential to increasing the number of people who know they’re infected. We believe an increase in funding is an important first step in making more widely available hepatitis prevention services, such as hepatitis B and C counseling, testing, and referral, in addition to delivering hepatitis A and B vaccine, and establishing a surveillance system of chronic B and C. We want to remind our leaders that addressing viral hepatitis one outbreak at a time rather than systematically addressing the hepatitis B and C epidemics is not cost-effective.
Please continue to help us fight for increased viral hepatitis prevention funding by contacting your Senators about the tremendous need in your state. Please take a few minutes to make these important phone calls!
HOW YOU CAN HELP
It is urgent that your calls be done immediately. Please call your two Senators in their Washington, DC office. Ask to speak to the staff person who handles healthcare issues. Whether you speak to this person directly or leave a message, tell them:
“My name is and I’m a constituent of Senator . I am calling to urge your office to weigh in with Chairman Harkin of the Subcommittee on Labor- HHS-Education to support increased funding for CDC’s Division of Viral Hepatitis by $31.7 million, for a total of $50 million. Hepatitis B and C affects over 6 million Americans with roughly 4 million Americans chronically infected. Chronic viral hepatitis is the leading cause of liver cancer, one of the top 10 killers of Americans every year, and the leading cause of liver transplants each year. Congress has historically cut or flat funded viral hepatitis prevention, and the small increase of $1.8 million provided by the House of Representatives is appreciated but highly inadequate. I hope that you can do better by providing a greater increase in the Senate bill. Money for prevention of hepatitis B and C is critical to increase counseling, testing and referral in order to begin to get a handle on this potentially life-threatening and expensive, chronic disease.”
You can call your Senators at 202.225.3121. You will get the Capitol switchboard. Ask to be connected to your Senator’s office.
Thanks for taking the time to make these important phone calls!
The following Senators are of great importance at this juncture since they are all Appropriators and have influence on funding decisions. If you live in any of these states, it is particularly important that you make your calls as his or her constituent to weigh in on increased funds for viral hepatitis prevention:
Alabama:
Richard Shelby
Alaska:
Lisa Murkowski
Arkansas:
Mark Pryor
California:
Dianne Feinstein
Hawaii:
Daniel Inouye
Illinois:
Richard Durbin
Iowa:
Tom Harkin
Kansas:
Sam Brownback
Kentucky:
Mitch McConnell
Louisiana:
Mary Landrieu
Maine:
Susan Collins
Maryland:
Barbara Mikulski
Mississippi:
Thad Cochran
Missouri:
Christopher Bond
Montana:
Jon Tester
Nebraska:
Ben Nelson
New Hampshire:
Judd Gregg
New Jersey:
Frank Lautenberg
North Dakota:
Byron Dorgan
Ohio:
George Voinovich
Pennsylvania:
Arlen Specter
Rhode Island:
Jack Reed
South Dakota:
Tim Johnson
Tennessee:
Lamar Alexander
Texas:
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Utah:
Robert Bennett
Vermont:
Patrick Leahy
Washington:
Patty Murray
West Virginia:
Robert Byrd
Wisconsin:
Herb Kohl
The Hepatitis C Appropriations Partnership (HCAP) was formed in June 2004 as a coalition that represents hepatitis community-based organizations, public health officials, health providers, national HIV and hepatitis organizations, and diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies. We work with policy makers and public health officials to increase federal leadership and support for viral hepatitis prevention, testing, education, research, medical management and treatment. For more information, please contact Colin Schwartz at 202.434.8005 or cschwartz@NASTAD.org.
Colin
Colin Schwartz, Associate, Viral Hepatitis/Government Relations
National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors
444 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 339
Washington, DC 20001
Phone: (202) 434-8005 Fax: (202) 434-8092
cschwartz@NASTAD.org www.NASTAD.org
|
