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The Theories of Health Promotion

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Health Promotion Introduction The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced $1.01 billion in grant-funding opportunities for Health promotion. These grant programs emerged directly from the Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Enacted in 2010, this legislation significantly affects both Medicare and Medicaid. It is designed to gradually shrink Medicare's drug-coverage "doughnut hole" until it is completely eliminated, a goal set for 2020. (The doughnut hole in Medicare Part D begins when a person's annual individual drug expenditures reach a certain amount. Coverage begins again when those expenses reach the "catastrophic" phase of coverage.) However, federal subsidies to Part C are designated to be cut, and Medicare payroll taxes for high-income earners are set to increase starting in 2013. According to Michael O'Donnell (2012) in 2010 Medicaid spending by the federal government totaled $273 billion or 7.3% of the total federal budget. State governments spent $127 billion on Medicaid in 2009. This figure represents 9.9% of all state budgets. This level of spending not to mention the inevitable annual increases will be difficult, if not impossible, for states and the federal government to maintain in the future. It is estimated that tobacco use, inactivity, and poor nutrition cause 70% of all chronic diseases. These diseases account for approximately 75% of all medical costs in the United States, furthermore they account for 83% of all Medicaid costs and

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