How careful messaging, a healthy budget and smart leadership boosted local public health funding in Indiana by 1,500 percent.
“Now that the money is being dangled in front of every county, I think constituents expect us leaders to take it — or they will see it as a wasted opportunity,” Drake said. “We will do the best we can with the funding.”
“One of our major goals was that no matter where you lived in the state of Indiana, you would have the same access to the same public health services that any other county does,” said Kristina Box, who retired as Indiana’s health commissioner in May. “We were careful to avoid terms we know that just turn our legislators’ hearts and minds off. … One of them, to be honest, was public health.”
While there were unique factors that allowed Indiana to boost funding this year, public health experts believe there are lessons other states — especially red states — can learn. They showed lawmakers how significantly local health department revenue varies from county to county — from $83 a person in Marion County, where Indianapolis is, to $1.25 in neighboring Shelby County. All but two counties fall short of the national median, $41, and a third of counties are under $10.
Proponents also made concessions to get the legislation passed. Lawmakers amended it to clarify that counties do not give up any authority to the state by accepting the money — a key concern for some — although local health departments may only spend the state’s dollars on so-called core public health services, such as communicable disease prevention, maternal and child health and tobacco cessation.
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