Letter to Chairman Kingston and Ranking Member DeLauro - Healthy Start Program

Letter

Dear Chairman Kingston and Ranking Member DeLauro:

We are writing to request $103.5 million for the Healthy Start program in the Fiscal Year 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. This amount is equal to the funding level for FY 2012.

Operated by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Healthy Start funds a network of 104 community-based programs designed to reduce infant mortality and support disadvantaged pregnant women. Healthy Start programs, which are found in both urban and rural areas, focus on reducing infant mortality, the incidence of low-birthweight babies, as well as eliminating racial disparities in birth outcomes. Healthy Start programs serve pregnant women and families by providing outreach, home visits, case management, health education, depression screening, and other effective approaches to ensure the birth of a healthy newborn child.

The existing community-based Healthy Start program sites have shown to be very successful at reducing infant mortality and the number of low-birthweight infants. An assessment of the program by HRSA states, "Healthy Start is successful in reducing infant mortality in the nation's highest risk populations for adverse outcomes."

Continued investment in Healthy Start will reduce overall federal costs associated with the expensive medical treatments that low-birthweight infants require, as well as future spending on Medicaid, special education and a myriad of other social services that are needed for infants with special health care needs. Knowing the negative impact of low-birthweight on future academic achievement, Healthy Start is also an integral component of a comprehensive strategy focused on early childhood education.

There are many factors we cannot control in determining whether a baby is born healthy. However, we can ensure that the federal government is fully committed to reducing the rates of infant mortality and low-birthweight rates.

We, therefore, urge you to include funding of $103.5 million for the Healthy Start program in the FY 2014 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. We appreciate your attention to this request and hope we can count on your support.

Sincerely,

Source