(10) Minority children living in urban areas are
especially vulnerable to asthma. In 1988, national
prevalence rates were 26 percent higher for black
children than for white children.
(11) Asthma is the most common chronic ill-
ness in childhood, afflicting nearly 5,000,000 chil-
dren under age 18, and costing an estimated
$1,900,000,000 to treat those children. The death
rate for children age 19 and younger increased by
78 percent between 1980 and 1993.
(12) From 1979 to 1992, the hospitalization
rates among children due to asthma increased 74
percent. It is estimated that more than 7 percent of
children now have asthma.
(13) Although asthma can occur at any age,
about 80 percent of the children who will develop
asthma do so before starting school.
(14) From 1980 to 1994, the most substantial
prevalence rate increase for asthma occurred among
children aged 0 to 4 years (160 percent) and per-
sons aged 5 to 14 years (74 percent).
(15) Children aged 0 to 5 years who are ex-
posed to maternal smoking are 201 times more like-
ly to develop asthma compared with those free from
exposure.
(16) According to data from the 1988 National
Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which surveyed
children for their health experiences over a 12-
month period, 25 percent of those children reported
experiencing a great deal of pain or discomfort due
to asthma either often or all the time during the
previous 12 months.
(17) Asthma entails an annual economic cost to
our nation in direct health care costs of $8.1 billion;
indirect costs (lost productivity) add another $4.6
billion for a total of $12.7 billion. Inpatient hospital
services represented the largest single direct medical
expenditure, over $3.5 billion. The value of reduced
productivity due to loss of school days represented
the largest single indirect cost at $1.5 billion.
(18) According to a 1995 National Institute of
Health workshop report, missed school days ac-
counted for an estimated cost of lost productivity for
parents 
of 
children 
with 
asthma 
of 
almost
$1,000,000,000 per year.
(19) Managing asthma requires a long-term,
multifaceted approach, including patient education,
specialty care, life skills training, nutrition coun-
seling elimination or avoidance of asthma triggers,
pharmacologic therapy, and scheduled medical fol-
low-up.
(20) In recognition of the growing public health
crisis in asthma, in 1999, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention developed the National Asth-
ma Control Program within the National Center for
Environmental Health to determine the incidence,
prevalence, and circumstances of asthma cases.
(21) Enhancing the available prevention, edu-
cational, research, and treatment resources with re-
spect to asthma in the United States will allow our
Nation to address more effectively the problems as-
sociated with this increasing threat to the health and
well-being of our citizen.
SEC. 3. CDC’S URBAN ASTHMA PREVENTION PROGRAMS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and
Human Services, acting through the Director of the Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Prevention, shall provide,
through the National Asthma Control Program within the
National Center for Environmental Health, additional
intervention program grants to address the incidence of
asthma in urban areas.
(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the
purpose of carrying out subsection (a), there are author-
ized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2003,
and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal
years 2004 through 2007.
SEC. 4. MEDICAID MODEL TREATMENT CENTERS DEM-
ONSTRATION PROGRAM.
Under the authority provided in section 1115 of the
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1315), the Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall permit States under the
medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security
Act to develop model asthma treatment centers dem-
onstration programs that—
(1) are based on the scientifically validated
asthma treatment models developed by the National
Cooperative Inner-City Asthma Study supported by
the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-
eases;
(2) include education, screening, and treatment
services for children with asthma;
(3) involve nonprofit organizations that can af-
fect patient beliefs, behavior, and outcomes;
(4) include specialty care and access to a full
range of available treatments to minimize unwanted
side effects; and
(5) improve health outcomes while lowering
overall health care expenditures.
SEC. 5. CDC GUIDELINES REGARDING COORDINATION OF
DATA.
For the purpose of facilitating the utility and com-
parability of asthma data collected by State and local
health departments, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, shall develop and dis-
seminate to such departments guidelines on the collection
and reporting of such data.
SEC. 6. INCREASING NUMBER OF CDC HEALTH PROFES-
SIONALS SERVING IN ASTHMA PROGRAMS.
For the purpose of increasing the number of full-time
equivalent employees of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention who are health professionals and serve in
asthma programs of such Centers, there are authorized
to be appropriated $4,000,000 for fiscal year 2003, and
such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years
2004 through 2007.
Æ