The CDC's Office of Smoking and Health (OSH) is currently at risk of losing it's funding! Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death within the United States, with nearly 500,000 deaths per year. Tobacco-related issues cost the US healthcare system nearly $241 biillion annually, with more than 60% of these costs paid by taxpayers. 

OSH's budget of $250 million helps to fund state health departments' various tobacco control initiatives. Among these are various tobacco quitlines across the US, which have helped over 175,000 individuals quit smoking just in the past two years.

Congress must reject the Administrations elimination of CDC OSH and appropriate level funding for CDC to continue its work to reduce tobacco use. Since 1999, OSH has brought the number of American adults who smoke from 25% to 10.8%. Without these funds to power these programs, all the progress made over the past 25 years is at risk of coming undone and setting back our country decades in chronic health research. 

There are very few times in life where something is truly a life-or-death situation; unfortunately, now is one of these times. Right now, the House Energy and Commerce Committee in D.C. has been instructed to reduce the federal deficit by at least $880 billion over the next 10 years. Currently, Medicaid accounts for 93% of the committee’s spending jurisdiction, making spending cuts more imminent than ever.

Medicaid is a joint federal-state safety net program for health care that provides health insurance to eligible children, pregnant woman, adults with limited income, and elderly or disabled adults. 80 million people across the US rely on this service, including 3.4 million within Illinois. Of those 3.4 million, it is estimated 23% of them have at least one respiratory illness such as asthma. Over 200,000 children and 937,468 adults across the state are currently diagnosed with asthma. Of these populations, a third of adults and nearly half of all children rely on Medicaid for essential healthcare. If these funds disappear, resources for these individuals disappear, increasing the potential for fatal outcomes.

We need your help to continue to protect healthcare for across our country.

 Over the past few days, worrisome events have occurred in Washington D.C. that will have a negative impact on lung health and clean air. While there are unanswered questions on which federal policies and programs are vulnerable to rollbacks and funding cuts, how drastic those changes may be and how soon any changes will occur, it’s become clear that the new Administration is intent on making changes that will be detrimental to lung health and clean air. 

As a person who cares about these issues, we urge you to contact your representatives and let them know you want them to ensure lung health and clean air remains a priority and that their decisions should reflect your concerns. Some issues are highlighted in the letter, but you are urged to add your own comments as well by typing into the box below the letter.

We need YOUR help to urge your Congressional representatives to support the SOAR (Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform) Act. Millions of Americans suffer from a lack of supplemental oxygen they desperately need, and appropriate access to respiratory therapy is becoming more difficult to find due to increasing costs and inadequate Medicare reimbursements. The SOAR Act will help put an end to the suffering of millions, help to keep oxygen and much-needed respiratory therapists accessible and affordable to the public, as well as establish a patient bill of rights for Medicare beneficiaries who use supplemental oxygen. Help millions by filling out this letter, which will automatically send to your federal representatives.