American Health Care Act To Slash Funding Allocated To Center For Disease Control And Prevention

First Posted: Mar 09, 2017 03:56 AM EST
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Even before Donald Trump was sworn in as the president, people had anticipated that once he takes the charge of the office, there will be major changes in the fields of scientific research and development, as well as health care. It seems now is the time for those changes to come into effect. The Trump administration has recently put forth the American Health Care Act in front of the house of representatives. The bill is likely to replace the earlier Affordable Care Act in the future.

The bill has got advertent supporters as well as opposers. According to experts, the American Health Care Act proposes cutting down a major portion of the funding given to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which is why its implementation will lead to considerable deterioration of public health, Vox reported.

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allotted these funds to CDC to help in the furtherance of research, development and distribution of vaccines for deadly diseases including swine flu and Zika, so that the occurrence of diseases can be prevented right from the start. Ever since the Obama administration implemented the ACA, the Republicans have been vehemently opposing the allotment of 12 percent of the federal budget to the CDC. Therefore, the Trump administration's proposition of shutting down the funding is not much of a surprise for America.

However, the large-scale implications of the change on American population is an entirely different matter. While medical research, vaccine and drug development are a crucial part of the integrity of the health care system, shutting them down will obviously have adverse impact on public health. Since the CDC plays an active role in tracking and preventing the spread of infectious diseases and hospital associated infections, eliminating the Prevention and Public Health Fund allotted to it increases the risk of outbreaks of "vaccine preventable diseases," NBC News reported.

In the wake of the recently issued threats of spread of yellow fever and H7N9 bird flu and the decline in the life expectancy of Americans, health officials are highly critical of the implementation of the American Health Care Act. This is likely to come into effect in October 2018.

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