Murray included funding for rural physician training, community health programs in ACA
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Murray (D-WA), Chairman of the Budget Committee, and a senior member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, applauded President Obama’s budget proposal to invest more than $14.6 billion in the nation’s healthcare workforce over the next ten years. Among other programs, the President’s proposal includes critical workforce training initiatives authored and led by Senator Murray in the initial drafting of the Affordable Care Act, including $10 million in new clinical training for community health-based programs and $4 million in new rural physician training grants.
Already, more than 4 million Americans, including more than 400,000 Washingtonians, have signed up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Today’s announcement further promotes investing in our healthcare workforce, to help families get the care they need.
“Providing quality, affordable health care for all Americans is a goal I share with President Obama, but to do that, we need a trained, sustainable health care workforce that can deliver care in every single community in America,” said Senator Murray. “The President’s proposal today shows that we’re committed to educating and training the best health care workforce in the world and making health care reform work for Americans.”
In addition to programs originally authored by Senator Murray, the President’s proposal also includes:
- $3.95 billion over 10 years to grow the National Health Service Corps from 8,900 to 15,000 per year
- $5.23 billion over 10 years to dramatically increase the number of medical residents to train new primary care physicians
- The proposal also addresses a shortage of mental health providers by offering residency slots for psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and other mental health caregivers
- $5.44 billion to extend higher payments to Medicaid providers
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