The federal sequestration is having a negative impact on Ohio’s public health programs. But Dr. Ted Wymyslo says it’s hard, at this point, to know exactly how much money programs are losing. He says the department has been waiting since early March to learn specifics about the cuts that will be put in place because the federal government has decided to cut back on program funding.
"To date we have received final sequestration budget cut information on 18 of the nearly 100 federal grants that are administered by our department," says Wymyslo. "We want to be transparent and proactive in our communications but many of the Ohio Department of Health programs as well as the local public health programs still do not know the actual amount of the federal grants that support their efforts."
Wymyslo says without those numbers, these program directors are finding it difficult to determine which services they can offer. He says many programs have not replaced outgoing employees as one way to deal with potential funding shortfalls that might result from the federal sequestration.
