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Anticipating federal cutbacks or funding freezes, Georgia lawmakers held a hearing Wednesday to explore a redesign of the state’s public health system, which protects residents from diseases and offers preventative health care in some places.
The state’s public health districts operate under the Department of Public Health. Most of the staff work for local government, but the amount counties must contribute has not changed in 50 years. Nearly $403 million of the $922.5 million budget for public health comes from the state while almost $465 million is provided by the federal government.
Some expect the administration of President Donald Trump to issue more “block grants” with less oversight, giving states an opportunity to redesign their systems for health services, such as dental hygiene, and for the tracking and the prevention of diseases, such as syphilis.
“These changes at the federal level are giving us an opportunity to really reimagine what public health can be,” state Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said.
But cuts in services may have to accompany that flexibility as the federal government pushes more costs to the local level. So Rep. Butch Parrish, R-Swainsboro, asked Toomey to assess which programs merit funding from the state if federal dollars wane.
“We can help some, but I don’t think we can make up all of those dollars,” said Parrish, chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee.
“I think there can really be some challenges out there, and I know that y’all will be up to it,” said
Parrish, who represents a district south of Augusta. He was among several lawmakers on the panel who expressed concern that rural areas get fewer services than urban areas.
A funding freeze could be less than two months away given Congress’ challenges in passing a timely budget, said Carolyn Mullin with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Her group predicts a “high likelihood” of a government shutdown Oct. 1. If that does happen, she said, federal payments for public health could be frozen, pushing costs to the states.
That would further stress an already stressed public health system in Georgia.
The House Study Committee on Evaluating Funding for Public Health was created by a House resolution that said “public health has historically been underfunded.”
Rep. Darlene Taylor, R-Thomasville, who chairs the study committee and has a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, will hold two more hearings this year.
“We are all waiting to see final outcomes and what Congress does,” she said.
