Press Release: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS URGED TO PLAY BIGGER ROLE IN ADDRESSING SOCIAL NEEDS IN POOR COMMUNITIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 5, 2005
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Michael K. Frisby
202-625-4328
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS URGED TO PLAY BIGGER ROLE IN ADDRESSING SOCIAL NEEDS IN POOR COMMUNITIES
Dr. Christopher Cites Need for Innovative Approaches to Improving Health Outcomes.
DENVER. CO.-Faced with severe budget constraints, the United States must enlist the public and private sectors in finding innovative ways to improve the quality of life for its poor and low-income citizens by addressing the many social factors, such as education, that determine health risks, members of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) were warned in their opening plenary session.
Dr. Gail C. Christopher, DN, Director of the Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, told the ASPA’s 67th National Conference that the nation’s financial burden will continue rising unless the government’s spending priorities change and the corporate world becomes more actively engaged.
“We can no longer afford to be the richest and most powerful nation in the world, and the least hospitable to children, families and the most vulnerable,’’ Dr. Christopher said in her speech on Saturday. “Failure to understand and address interrelated human needs in every sector of society will not yield needed solutions. The nation’s looming federal fiscal crisis compels leaders to marry idealism and pragmatism in new approaches.”
Dr. Christopher noted that the US is grappling with unsustainable fiscal commitments, due largely to increasing health care costs, the demographics of an aging population and the war in Iraq. She noted that there could be substantial savings just by changing priorities. According to a recent report issued by the American Youth Policy Forum, the U.S. would save $41.8 billion in health care costs if the 600,000 youths who dropped out of school in 2004 completed one additional year of education.
She urged non-profits, government and the private industry to work together on addressing social problems, and implementing solutions. At the Joint Center Health Policy Institute, she has initiated commissions that are studying infant mortality, how to increase diversity in the healthcare workforce and the challenges faced by young African American males. Dr. Christopher has also commissioned studies on the impact of cutbacks in Medicaid spending, noting that reducing healthcare coverage to the poor will only cost the government more money in the long run by driving up related costs.
Dr. Christopher said there must be “a new urgency’’ in confronting these problems collectively, saying, “The health and well-being of all of our nation’s citizens should be the first order of business for all leaders. America’s long-term fiscal health and viability in the global marketplace depend upon it.”
Dr. Christopher is the former Director of the Institute for Government Innovation and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
