(Circulation. 2000;101:e9009.)
© 2000 American Heart Association, Inc.
Cardiovascular News |
Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2001 for Department of Health and Human Services Seeks to Expand Access to Care and Boost Research Funding
In the first 7 years of the Clinton administration, a number of gaps in the social safety net were filled, but the job has yet to be finished, said Donna E. Shalala, PhD, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, as she described proposed budget expenditures for fiscal year (FY) 2001. "Simply put: the gaps in our public health system and social safety net 7 years ago were real and unworthy of a great nation. At this moment of what the President calls profound promise and possibility, we are within sight of closing these gaps. We have the means. I’m convinced that we have the will," she said.
The budget she proposed totaled $421.4 billion dollars—an increase of 9% from that of the previous year. One major factor in the coming budget will be increasing access to care. Shalala hopes to capitalize on the previous success of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which has enrolled 2 million children in 50 states thus far. Now, the administration seeks to expand that coverage to the families of low-income children through a program called FamilyCare. The program, which is expected to cost $50 billion over 10 years as part of an enhanced federal match, should cover the families of children who live in states that provide coverage for children making up to 200% of the official poverty line.
To increase the numbers of children in the program, the administration
seeks to allow school lunch programs to share information