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ObamaCare Slush Fund’s Clever Name Masks Millions in Waste

NAPLES – A new report released today by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) shines the light of accountability on a little-known slush fund created by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—ObamaCare—that will cost taxpayers $10 billion through 2019, and an additional $2 billion every year after.

In ObamaCare Prevention Fund Prevents Good Stewardship of Taxpayer Dollars, FGA Chief Executive Officer Tarren Bragdon dissects the Prevention and Public Health Fund created in ObamaCare—an account unfairly shielded from the traditional budget process, with its billions doled out not by elected representatives, but by appointed panels of bureaucrats to organizations. Grants distributed from the Fund as supposed to invest in programs designed to improve health and restrain health care costs.

In typical Washington fashion, however, billions from the Fund appears to be targeted toward Nanny State initiatives designed to influence and/or control how Americans live their lives, based on reporting from the Centers for Disease Control. For example, a 2010 grant of $126 million is targeted toward tobacco control, obesity prevention and the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” initiative. Another grant for $29 million in 2011 was also doled out for obesity and tobacco prevention.

$118 million in taxpayer-funded grants have been doled out in Florida alone, with $30 million going to the state of Florida, $40 million to Florida non-profits, $30 million to Florida county or city governments, and $11 million to for-profit Florida companies.

Despite limited success such lifestyle-changing programs can point to, the Fund continues to invest billions generated from individual and employer mandate penalties, tax increases, and substantial cuts to Medicare resulting from ObamaCare’s enactment.

“American taxpayers will feel the impact of ObamaCare’s penalties, taxes, fees, and abuse for years to come, unless the liberals who rammed this monster through Congress realize the error of their ways,” Bragdon said. “The Prevention and Public Health Fund is just one small, $10 billion piece of this fiscally devastating puzzle, and despite its excessive spending, quality of care is sure to decline and costs will continue to rise.”

Click HERE to read the report.

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