Is the Public Health Fund a Slush Fund?
To foes, [the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the Affordable Care Act] is a “slush fund”, a $13.8 billion monument to everything they don’t like about the 2010 legislation…
Sen. Tom Coburn, for instance, an Oklahoma Republican and physician … says the country just can’t afford to be using public funds to build things like basketball courts in the name of public health. People, he said, should be encouraged to take brisk 15-minute mile walks – for free. “Building basketball courts and all this other stuff… that’s all great,” Coburn said. “[But] our country doesn’t have that luxury right now. There are a whole lot of ways to get exercise rather than spending 10 billion out of the federal government.”
Definitely, it’s a slush fund.
Besides rumors, there is some evidence the public health fund will function as a slush fund. For instance, last year HHS allocated some of the funds for loan subsidies and educational initiatives to boost nurse training. The public health advocates became rather angry because they thought the funds were reserved for their preferences.