Greene County Democrat

Tag: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  • Newswire : How Ugly Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”really is

    By Black Press USA Staff

    During Trump’s address to Congress in January, State of the People organizers, activists and journalists stood up a 24 -hour streaming channel. As the Senate and House debate Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” State of the People is broadcasting a marathon on its YouTube channel to fully inform the public on the devastating impact of Trump’s bill. From State of the People, here are some ways in which the legislation will impact our communities:

    Broke: Money, Jobs, Economy
    This bill cuts $1.3 trillion in food assistance and health coverage while giving the wealthy that exact amount in tax breaks.
    It adds $3.25 trillion to the national debt which will weaken our economy at a time we can’t afford it.
    Kills jobs and increases energy costs: Puts 1.75 million construction jobs at risk — with unions warning, “this stands to be the biggest job-killing bill in the history of the country”
    Puts 2 million clean energy jobs at risk and increases energy bills by hundreds of dollars across the country
    Trump and the GOP’s budget is the most regressive tax scheme in at least the last 40 years — possibly ever.  The bill will “actively transfer” money from the poorest Americans into the pockets of the ultra-wealthy
    The impact of the “cuts” they are talking about is really a transfer of wealth reduce incomes among the poorest 20% of Americans by 3.8%, while increasing the incomes of the richest 20% by 3.7%

    Sick: Healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare and the ACA; Veterans
    • Rips away health care from over 16 million Americans through over $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act — including the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
    • These Medicaid cuts are going to reach down into every corner of our nation’s health care system.
    • Puts over 300 rural hospitals at risk of shutting down, ripping away critical, lifesaving care from hundreds of rural communities across the country.
    Seniors will lose care at home and be left with fewer nursing homes and fewer nurses.
    Kids with disabilities will lose home care.
    And never before has there been legislation so focused on denying care to eligible Americans by adding more red tape, and making it harder for anyone who relies on Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
    More than 37 million children are enrolled in either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a federal program that provides affordable health insurance to pregnant mothers and children who live just above Medicaid’s poverty threshold.
    Combined, Medicaid and CHIP protect nearly half of all children in the United States, beginning with important prenatal care, covering over 40% of U.S. births as well as nearly half of all rural births, and continuing to insure millions of vulnerable children into young adulthood.

    Veterans: Over 9 million veterans are enrolled in VA health care, and millions more rely on Medicaid, Medicare, or ACA coverage to fill gaps — these cuts will gut their care and overwhelm an already strained VA system.

    About 1 in 10 veterans rely on Medicaid — especially post-9/11 veterans, low-income veterans, and those living in rural areas where VA facilities are limited.
    Veterans of color, women veterans, and disabled veterans are disproportionately impacted, as they are more likely to be dual-eligible for VA and public health programs now on the chopping block.
    These cuts would force many veterans to delay care, forgo treatment, or drown in medical debt — all while funding more weapons and war.

    Hungry: Taking food assistance away from our kids and communities
    5 million Americans lose food assistance (Congressional Budget Office SNAP projections)
    Work requirements expanded to age 64 (House Republican reconciliation bill text)
    New red tape around the child tax credit, making it harder to qualify for some of the benefits like school lunch programs and SNAP
    According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP helps pay for groceries for more than 15 million children in the U.S. (USDA)
    Could force some states to end their SNAP programs. Over the last 50 years, SNAP’s nationwide availability has largely eliminated severe hunger and malnutrition throughout the United States. This bill walks away from the long-standing, bipartisan, and national commitment to food assistance that made that possible.

    Additional Impacts:

    Endangers our communities by making it easier to buy dangerous firearms and silencers
    The administration proposes a 43.6% decrease in HUD program funding, from $77.0 billion to $43.5 billion. This includes a $26.7 billion cut from federal rental assistance programs as the responsibility for rental assistance would shift to the states. The proposal also eliminates the $3.3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, designed to support community infrastructure, public facilities, and programming.
    The Department of Health and Human Services budget would be reduced by 26.2%, from $127.0 billion to $93.8 billion. Within this, a new $500 million fund would support the “Make America Healthy Again” initiative, designed to allow HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to address nutrition, medication, and food and drug quality.
    A reform of the National Institutes of Health would reduce its budget by $18.0 million, requiring the closure of the National Institute on Minority and Health Disparities and the National Institute of Nursing Research. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention budget would also drop $3.6 billion.
    Another $4.0 billion would be cut by ending the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program operated by the Administration for Children & Families.
    Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs (-$646 million)

  • Newswire: Black Americans are being vaccinated at far lower rates

    By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    Black woman being vaccinated


    When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two new vaccines to combat the coronavirus, the initial concern was whether African Americans would accept vaccination.
    The rollout of the medicine from Pfizer and Moderna featured heavy promotion.
    High-profile African Americans like former President Barack Obama, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) Coronavirus Task Force Member Dr. Ebony Hilton, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson received their shots publicly.
    An African American nurse in New York earned distinction as the first person in the country to receive a vaccination, and Meharry Medical College President Dr. James Hildreth, a Black man, sat on the FDA board that approved the vaccines.
    Now, concern has shifted from whether African Americans will accept the vaccine.
    Many now wonder whether doses would be available to the Black community.
    A new Kaiser Family Foundation report has revealed that African Americans are getting vaccinated at much lower rates than whites. The report, released on Saturday, Jan. 16, shows that in 16 U.S. states where the vaccine is available, white residents are being vaccinated by as much as three times higher than African Americans.
    One example is Pennsylvania, where 1.2 percent of white residents had been vaccinated, compared with just 0.3 percent of African Americans in the Keystone State.
    Kaiser Family Foundation researchers noted that vaccine distribution is supposed to align with healthcare and frontline workers’ demographics, presumably making the vaccine equally available to all races.
    Some have hinted the lack of vaccine access is rooted in racism – not an unwillingness of minorities to get vaccinated.
    Dr. Taison Bell, of the University of Virginia, told NBC News that he was “horrified to discover that members of environmental services — the janitorial staff — did not have access to hospital email. ”Hospital staff receives its vaccination information via email, Dr. Bell stated.
    “That’s what structural racism looks like,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told NBC. “Those groups were seen and not heard — nobody thought about it.”
    As of Jan. 25, the U.S. had surpassed more than 25 million total cases and 413,000 deaths due to the pandemic, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported.
    According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis, African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans are dying from COVID-19 nearly three times the rate of white people. “With the country’s coronavirus pandemic continuing unabated as cases and deaths increase, and a more contagious variant of the virus spreads, there is a greater focus on vaccine distribution troubles,” Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman wrote.
    The covid-19 vaccine distribution effort is in trouble, Altman demurred. According to federal data, only 15 million of the more than 40 million doses distributed nationwide have been given to people. “Hundreds of different distribution programs are being organized across states and counties for frontline health workers, residents of long-term care facilities, the elderly and others that states are prioritizing in different sequences,” Altman continued.
    “The country needs a distribution strategy that our fragmented, multilayered healthcare system can effectively implement. This will require more federal direction, a simpler priority structure, and a different role for the states.”

  • ADPH recommends Alabamians consider stopping the use of electronic cigarettes and vape products

    The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) recommends that all consumers consider refraining from the use of electronic cigarette and vape products (i.e., vape pens, liquids, refill pods and cartridges) until national and state investigations into vaping-related deaths and illnesses are complete. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a cluster of severe pulmonary disease among people who use e-cigarettes or vape products, with more than 800 cases of lung injury reported from 46 states and one U.S. territory. Two-thirds of cases are 18 – 34 years old, and 12 deaths have been confirmed so far in 10 states. As of September 25, there were 16 Alabama residents under investigation. Of the 16 reports, 2 cases have been ruled out; 2 have been identified as probable cases of lung disease associated with vaping. Alabama is currently not included in the national case numbers.
    Those who choose to continue the use of e-cigarettes and vape products should not buy these products off the street or from unregulated sources. Consumers should avoid modifying or adding any substances that are not intended by the manufacturer. Consumers with nicotine addiction who have used e-cigarettes as a method to quit smoking should not return to the use of conventional cigarettes.
    Patients have experienced symptoms that include cough, shortness of breath and fatigue, with symptoms growing worse over a period of days or weeks before admission to the hospital. Other symptoms may include fever, chest pain, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Most of the cases are among adolescents and young adults.
    ADPH has requested that health care providers report any cases of suspected serious respiratory illness they treat among patients who use electronic cigarettes or other vaping devices. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said, “The use of any tobacco product is unsafe. While this current outbreak is being investigated, the safest option is to refrain from using any e-cigarette or vape product. Furthermore, there is no situation in which these devices should be used by pregnant women or youths.”
    Alabama law now prohibits the sale or transfer of vaping products or electronic nicotine delivery devices to minors. Free help is available for Alabama residents who are ready to kick the tobacco habit. The Alabama Tobacco Quitline number is 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) or residents may visit quitnowalabama.comfor help.
    The Quitline provides individualized coaching to help any type of smoker or tobacco user, including e-cigarettes and vape, to quit. In addition, the Quitline offers up to eight weeks of free nicotine patches to those medically eligible and enrolled in the program. Quitline coaching services are available seven days a week from 6 a.m. to midnight.
    For additional information on electronic cigarettes and their health effects, visit http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/e-cigarettes/index.htm. For more information on quitting tobacco, please visit ADPH Tobacco Prevention and Control at alabamapublichealth.gov/tobacco.