AMA advocacy efforts: Public health

In addition to the work the AMA is doing on the Recovery Plan, we are also advocating at the federal and state levels on key issues in public health.

• Encouraging the administration to provide flexibility in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Food Packages to better reflect cultural and medical needs and personal preferences while promoting growth and health in women and children.
• Advised the U.S. Department of Agriculture to revise its Child Nutrition Programs to limit the fat, added sugar and sodium content in school-based food programs, and accommodate food substitutions based on cultural and medical needs and preferences.

• Pushing lawmakers to adopt common-sense steps to prevent avoidable deaths and injuries caused by firearm violence.
• Partnering with state medical associations to shape state-level initiatives and legislation.
• Continuing to work with a coalition on ensuring the continuation of and increase in the funding for firearm violence prevention research.

• Successfully advocated for over-the-counter availability of naloxone and continuing to advocate for responsible pricing and insurance coverage for this life-saving medication.
• Successfully advocated for revisions to the CDC’s opioid prescribing guidelines that resulted in the CDC removing its numeric thresholds for dose and quantity and making clear that state laws and payer policies should not include specific, numeric thresholds for treating patients with pain.

Learn more about our efforts issues covered in the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, population care and health disparities and removing obstacles to care.

The AMA works to generate support for policies critical to the nation’s health care system—and we can’t do it without your help. Learn more about ways to get involved with AMA advocacy.