The common complaint in many Midwestern states is the weather (as in wait five minutes and it will change, anyway!), and I often wonder if I would have chosen Michigan had I had the option. But with a new baby and many family members with some serious roots, I probably won’t be moving anytime soon.

But a new study released by Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) tells me that there is much more than the weather to complain about. More specifically, it turns out that Midwestern states receive less funding per person from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) than other states.

And here I just thought that we had just bad winters and questionable politics.

According to the study, Midwestern states receive an average of $16.24 per person, with Western states coming in with the second lowest amount at $19.74 per person. Alaskan residents are scoring high with $56 per person in CDC funding. The 2007 fiscal-year national average topped out at just about $17 per person.

So why the differential in funding?

Currently, about 80 percent of CDC funds are distributed to state and local health agencies through grants or cooperative agreement programs. Formulas based on burden of disease or population are used to determine how much each state is allocated. States and communities also compete for limited funds.

“Every American should have the opportunity to be as healthy as he or she can be. Every community should be safe from threats to its health,” said Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH in a press release. “If we’re serious about improving the health of Americans, we need to make a much bigger investment in disease prevention efforts in every state and every region.”

Makes sense to me. But how exactly that is going to happen when state officials are stepping on each other for the sake of self-preservation is a question I’m not sure anyone is prepared to answer.

According to the TFAH study, Shortchanging America’s Health: A State-by-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars Are Spent—2008, states and local communities use CDC funds for public health programs such as diabetes prevention, HIV prevention, immunizations, and environmental health. But says James S. Marks, MD, MPH, senior vice president and director of the health group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, there needs to be a major shift in how health issues are addressed.

“For too long the country has focused on caring for people after they become sick instead of trying to prevent disease,” said Marks in the release. “Investing more in public health and prevention will help end skyrocketing medical care costs and ensure that all Americans live longer and healthier lives.”

I agree completely. But I’m not holding my breath that anything, like the weather here in Michigan, will change in the next five minutes.