$250 million for preventive healthcare

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has allocated $250 million for fiscal year 2010 for several preventive healthcare programs, officials said.

"Our current healthcare system leaves many Americans without the preventive care that stops disease and illness before they start," Surgeon General Regina Benjamin said in a statement. "What we need is an approach to healthcare that keeps people from getting sick in the first place, and that addresses the underlying drivers of chronic disease."

Under the Affordable Care Act, a Prevention and Public Health Fund was designed to help create the infrastructure to prevent disease, detect it early and manage conditions before they become severe, and more costly, Benjamin said.

The $250 million is being allocated for:

-- $126 million will support federal, state and community preventive healthcare initiatives; the integration of primary care services into publicly-funded community-based behavioral health settings; obesity prevention and fitness; and tobacco cessation.

-- $70 million will support state, local and tribal public health infrastructure to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

-- $31 million for data collection and analysis and to improve transparency and public involvement in the Clinical Preventive Services Task Force.

-- $23 million to expand Center's and Disease Control and Prevention's public health workforce programs and public health training centers.