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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Cuts In Family Medicine Training Funding Will Decimate Health Care Delivery |
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by American Medical Student Association
Email: prel (nospam) www.amsa.org (unverified!) |
07 Jun 2001
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RESTON, VA - June 7 - The Bush Administration's recent budget release allows for zero funding for crucial family medicine training programs, and those cuts could create major headaches for the American people seeking primary care in rural and urban underserved areas, according to the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation's largest, independent medical student organization. |
The Bush budget eliminates federal funding for family medicine training programs under Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. These are the only programs at the federal level specifically designed to support family medicine training.
By reducing the number of medical students able to complete family medicine specialty training, Americans will be forced to look elsewhere for everyday, basic medical services provided at free clinics, community health centers and doctor's offices. This crisis could flood already-overwhelmed emergency rooms and cause a further collapse of the nation's already-frayed health safety net.
"Medical students need to be encouraged to seek out family medicine as a specialty," said Jaya Agrawal, AMSA national president. "Physicians in family medicine provide necessary preventive care, especially at a time when the nation's health care system is not focused on providing this valuable service to every American."
"People ask, why do students still pursue medicine, with all these problems?" asks Agrawal. "Medical students are saddled with six-figure debts before completing their four years of school. They can look forward to grueling work hours during their residency training, while being paid only a subsistence wage. Managed care bureaucracy makes doctoring an unpleasant, even unwanted, experience. Older physicians are retiring in greater numbers, while the number of physicians available to treat an ever diversifying population continues to dwindle."
Agrawal continues, "Into this morass enters the Bush Administration with an effort to wipe out an important program that directs physicians-in-training to careers in family medicine. It is interesting that President Bush has declared his commitment to community health centers, but has eliminated the program that places desperately needed doctors at these underserved clinics. These decisions do not bode well for the American people."
AMSA is committed to rectifying the shifts in public policy made in Washington, D.C. The organization will sponsor its third National Primary Care Week during October 2001, dedicated to promoting primary care as a medical specialty. This program, coordinated with other health professional students, will focus on the federal government's Healthy People 2010 initiative, which is designed to target specific health indicators.
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