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THIS ISSUE AVAILABLE ONLINE WITH EXPANDED
INFORMATION AT:
www.hhs.gov/news/newsletter/weekly
IN THIS ISSUE:
1) Welcome from Kevin Keane, Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs
2) Secretary Thompson's schedule 3-9 February 2002
4) FY 2003 budget rollout
5) HHS Week in Review
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Welcome to HHS Weekly Report, a web-based weekly newsletter covering events at the Department of Health and Human Services.
We plan to distribute this summary every Monday to anyone who is interested in the activities of HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, the department and its agencies.
It's intended to provide a brief look at the week ahead and a summary of major developments.
Thanks for taking a look.
Kevin Keane
Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs
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Secretary Thompson's schedule 3-9 February 2002
MONDAY - HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson
will announce the department's fiscal year 2003 budget at a news conference
today at 2 p.m. in the Hubert Humphrey Building Great Hall. The budget documents
will be available here.
TUESDAY - Secretary Thompson will
travel with the President to Pennsylvania for an event on bioterrorism. At 8
a.m., he will receive the "Spirit of Independence" award from the
National Association of Health Underwriters at the Washington Capitol Hilton.
WEDNESDAY - Secretary Thompson will testify before the full House Ways & Means Committee on HHS's FY2003 budget on Wednesday, Feb. 6, at 10 a.m. in the committee's hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building.
THURSDAY - U.S.-Ireland Biotechnology Round-Table, HHS, 8:30 a.m. The Secretary then travels to Utah for Olympics-related events.
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FY 2003 budget strengthens America with health security
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson will roll out the department's FY 2003 executive budget on Monday, February 4th with an afternoon news conference in the Great Hall of the HHS Hubert Humphrey Building.
Copies of the budget summary will be available
at 2 p.m. the same day on
the Web.
Consistent with President Bush's vision as outlined in his State of the Union Address last Tuesday, the Secretary will focus on the budget's initiatives to protect the nation against bioterrorism, increase opportunity through welfare reform, expand access to health care and promote good health through prevention programs.
The White House and Secretary Thompson have previewed these priorities over the last several weeks, using news conferences, public speeches and other events to discuss the budget.
ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE -- The President is proposing a comprehensive approach to improving access to health care, not a one-size-fits-all approach, Secretary Thompson says. The budget will combine new tax provisions to support purchase of private health insurance with an affordable expansion of federal and state programs, while dramatically expanding the network of community health centers to provide medical care wherever it's needed.
The budget also sets aside $190 billion over
the next 10 years to strengthen and modernize Medicare, including $77 billion
over the next decade to pay 90 percent of the cost of drug coverage for Medicare
for seniors with incomes between the federal poverty level and 150 percent of
that amount.
BIOTERRORISM -- The President's budget increases NIH's budget by $3.7 billion -- the largest one-year increase ever for NIH -- for a total of $27.3 billion. Approximately $1.5 billion will be devoted to proposed bioterrorism research, a five-fold increase over the amount budgeted for the previous fiscal year. NIH's plan includes expansions in basic research, such as sequencing the genome of potential bioterrorism agents; accelerating development of next-generation anthrax vaccines; and improving diagnostic tools. Overall, the FY 2003 bioterrorism budget is $4.35 billion.
WELFARE REFORM -- This year marks the reauthorization of 1996's welfare reform legislation, known as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. As governor of Wisconsin, Secretary Thompson was an early and effective leader in the national drive for welfare reform, and he is now taking a key role in shaping the new legislation. He discussed the reforms' history in a speech last Thursday to the Conservative Political Action Committee's annual conference: "Nationwide, we've seen tremendous success over the past five years - based on the 2000 Census, we know that 5.4 million fewer people are on welfare than in 1996, and 2.8 million fewer children are in poverty."
The FY 2003 budget earmarks the dollars necessary to continue the progress, providing states with flexibility and giving individuals the tools they need to succeed, while keeping work as a priority.
PREVENTION -- Secretary Thompson has made prevention a hallmark of his first year in office, and the new budget contains new initiatives to promote education and other programs that highlight the need to stay healthy and fit. He outlined his goals in December when discussing the Surgeon General's report on obesity, saying, "I intend to ignite a national dialogue about the state of America's health -- with prevention as the primary focus. Therefore, we will partner with corporate America, as well as our unions, to ensure a healthier workforce, and a workplace that allows employees to tend to their own health, even as employers reap the benefits of healthy employees. We will help parents to set the example and lead the way."
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Bioterrorism preparedness funds
States are now receiving the first dollars
from $1.1 billion in funding for bioterrorism preparedness, HHS Secretary Tommy
Thompson announced
last week at a news conference at George Washington Hospital in Washington ,
D.C.
"We recognize that we have not as a
country, nor as a District nor as a state, invested the necessary, scarce resources
in our local and state public health systems," Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said, appearing with Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony
A. Williams and Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer. "We now have an opportunity
to build a viable, vibrant strong . . . system that will prepare and protect
our citizens for any attack that may come.
The funds will be used to develop comprehensive bioterrorism preparedness plans, upgrade infectious disease surveillance and investigation, enhance the readiness of hospital systems to deal with large numbers of casualties, expand public health laboratory and communication capacities, and improve connectivity between hospitals, and city and state health departments to enhance disease reporting.
Twenty percent of the dollars are immediately available to the states, and the remaining funds will be distributed after states submit plans on how to use the money. The plans are due March 15.
The funds come from the $2.9 billion supplemental
appropriations bill that President Bush signed into law on Jan. 10.
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Prenatal care
"Prenatal care for women and their
babies is a crucial part of the medical care every person should have through
the course of their life cycle. Prenatal services can be a vital, life-long
determinant of health, and we should do everything we can to make this care
available for all pregnant women. It is one of the most important investments
we can make for the long-term good health of our nation."
-- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson
Using an innovative approach to providing essential care for pregnant women, the Department of Health and Human Services plans to allow states the use of their SCHIP programs to provide health-care coverage to low-income mothers who may have previously lacked prenatal care.
SCHIP stands for State Children's Health Insurance Program, which permits the use of federal dollars to provide coverage to children and others not covered by Medicaid.
At present, SCHIP allows states to provide
health care coverage to targeted low-income children under age 19. A new regulation
will let states include coverage for children from conception to age 19.
This would mean that pregnant women can receive
prenatal and delivery care. Numerous studies show that effective, high-quality
prenatal care can improve a child's development through his or her entire life.
"This is not a debate about abortion,
and those who seek to advocate for children should stop making it so,"
Secretary Thompson said. "It is about our undeniable health needs throughout
the life cycle."
Altogether, an estimated 10.9 million women of child-bearing age (18-44) do not have health insurance.
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HHS to help Afghanistan
HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson hosted a
reception last week with Dr. Sima Samar, Afghanistan's deputy prime minister,
minister of women's affairs, and the highest-ranking woman to ever serve in
an Afghan government. Also a guest at the reception was Afghan Reconstruction
Minister Mohammed Amin Farhang.
The Secretary promised to involve HHS in Afghanistan's reconstruction as part of a presidential initiative. "I have directed my staff to develop a proposal that draws from the many strengths of HHS to assist the new Afghan government in its goals to improve the health and well-being of its citizens," he said.
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