The report Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent was released this week by the non-profit organizations Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). It outlines federal government funding for disease prevention programs provided to the fifty states in fiscal year 2008.

The report found that annual per capita spending varies widely among the states (ranging from $12.74 and $52.78 per person). The national average for state funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for public health is $17.60 per person. The report notes that even at the high end, this level of spending on public health is a tiny fraction of the country's total investment in health. The vast majority of heath spending is invested in treating people after they've become sick. The report authors suggest that spending more money on disease prevention programs up front would lessen the need to spend so much on disease treatment "after the fact."

Below is a list of the bottom 10 states that received the least funding per state resident from the CDC in fiscal year 2008, followed in parentheses by the dollar amount of per capita spending.

The top 10 worst states for federal public health funding per capita are:

• Indiana ($12.74)
• Ohio ($12.76)
• Virginia ($12.88)
• Florida ($13.29)
• Kentucky ($13.94)
• Pennsylvania ($13.99)
• Tennessee ($14.96)
• Wisconsin ($14.97)
• Missouri ($15.14)
• Kansas ($15.14)

Interested in learning more about disease prevention? Join the Healia Support Group for Wellness and Lifestyle.

Related blog post: The Top 10 States for Federal Public Health Funding

_{Source: Trust for America’s Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars are Spent, 3/09. http://healthyamericans.org/assets/files/shortchanging09.pdf}

_{Photo: ThrasherDave, Flickr, Creative Commons}