The Obama administration on Thursday awarded $67 million to 105 groups around the country that will serve as “navigators” to help the uninsured understand their options under the new health care law and sign up for coverage.
The administration had initially planned to spend less — $54 million — on navigators in the 34 states where the federal government will run all or part of new insurance markets created under the law. Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, an official with the Department of Health and Human Services, said the additional $13 million had come from a fund set up under the health law to pay for public health and preventive care initiatives.
The administration has transferred several hundred million dollars from the fund to pay for aspects of the law, drawing criticism from some members of Congress.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, has said that she had no choice but to tap the prevention fund because Congress refused to provide money for outreach and education activities. The fund, originally $15 billion over 10 years, is supposed to support wellness and disease-prevention programs around the country.
Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who has championed the fund, said in May that it was “ill advised and shortsighted to raid the prevention fund, which is making absolutely critical investments in preventing disease, saving lives, and keeping women and their families healthy.”
They care so much about your health that they are willing to take hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for disease prevention initiatives and spend it on greasing the wheels of a train that’s running down a mountain with no breaks.
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