Support Restoring the $1 Billion Cut from Function 550 Public Health Programs

To: AAFP Key Contacts for the House and Senate Budget Committees

From: Tim Alford, MD, Chair, Commission on Legislation and
Government Affairs

Kevin J. Burke, Director, Division of Government Relations

Subject: House and Senate Budget Resolutions to Cut Health Programs, Including Section 747 Family Medicine Training

Both the House and Senate plan to vote on their budget resolutions the week of March 9. The purpose of these resolutions is to set out broad spending parameters for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, which then develop specific bills later in the spring. Since the federal budget is extremely tight due to the federal deficit and expensive mandatory programs, i.e., Medicare and Medicaid, the resolutions are expected to contain directives to cut many health programs severely. This type of language could mean that Section 747, the federal program that funds family medicine training, would be reduced or eliminated in an appropriations measure.

While Section 747 received an increase last year, President Bush again recommended zeroing out the program in his fiscal year 2006 budget proposal. As a result, Section 747 and all of the Title VII Health Professions training programs are extremely vulnerable. These programs are contained in a part of the budget resolution called “Function 550,” which includes all of the public health programs.

Your Senator or Representative sits on the Budget Committee, which will vote on the resolution. Please contact him or her and ask them to support restoring the $1 billion that was cut from the Function 550 public health programs in the President’s budget. You may do this in the following ways:

Thank you for your efforts! Please send any responses you receive to Susan Hildebrandt at shildebrandt@aafp.org.