The Health Care Education Bill

Silly me, I got the title wrong - it's the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, but with all the spending on education in it, I decided to rename it, and upon examination, found some interesting things:

I like how we are going to make it easier for people to apply for Medicare, particularly the part where they can apply on basis of self-certification of income and without the need to provide documentation except in certain situations ??????

Promote access by providing reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services which means 24 three-year grants will be given to service providers to help their staff learn another language. Don't worry though - none of the grants will be bigger than $500,000 over three years for any grantee. Guess they've never heard of Rosetta Stone!

The most interesting thing was the National Health Service Corps. Funny, I never heard of it before, but its gonnna get HUGE amounts of money in the form of scholarships, grants, half-time work programs, etc.:

`(c) For the purpose of carrying out this subpart, in addition to any other amounts authorized to be appropriated for such purpose, there are authorized to be appropriated, out of any monies in the Public Health Investment Fund, the following:
`(1) $63,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $66,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $73,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $77,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $81,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $85,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $89,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $94,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $98,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.'.

`(6) for fiscal years 2013 and 2019, such sums as may be necessary.'; and
(2) by inserting after section 338H the following:
`SEC. 338H-1. ADDITIONAL FUNDING.
`For the purpose of carrying out this subpart, in addition to any other amounts authorized to be appropriated for such purpose, there are authorized to be appropriated, out of any monies in the Public Health Investment Fund, the following:
`(1) $254,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $266,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $278,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $292,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $306,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $321,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $337,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $354,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $372,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $391,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.


Then, we have the training in all sorts of specialties, paid for by you, and just about every category gives preferences for individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds:

`(1) $240,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $253,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $265,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $278,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $292,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $307,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $322,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $338,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $355,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $373,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.'.

A Nursing workforce will be formed with 'nurse managed health centers':

`(1) $115,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $122,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $127,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $134,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $147,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $154,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $162,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $170,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $179,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.'.


My favorite though, is the Health Professions Training for Diversity. This covers scholarships for disadvantaged students, loan repayments and fellowships regarding faculty positions, and educational assistance in the health professions regarding individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, nursing workforce diversity grants, cultural competency programs, cultural and linguistic competency training and the pricetag is:

`(1) $90,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $97,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $104,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $116,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $121,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $127,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $133,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.
`(d) Interdisciplinary Training Programs, Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation and Assessment, and Health Workforce Assessment- For the purpose of carrying out sections 741, 759, 761, and 764, in addition to any other amounts authorized to be appropriated for such purpose, there are authorized to be appropriated, out of any monies in the Public Health Investment Fund, the following:
`(1) $91,000,000 for fiscal year 2010.
`(2) $97,000,000 for fiscal year 2011.
`(3) $101,000,000 for fiscal year 2012.
`(4) $105,000,000 for fiscal year 2013.
`(5) $111,000,000 for fiscal year 2014.
`(6) $117,000,000 for fiscal year 2015.
`(7) $122,000,000 for fiscal year 2016.
`(8) $129,000,000 for fiscal year 2017.
`(9) $135,000,000 for fiscal year 2018.
`(10) $141,000,000 for fiscal year 2019.'.

And they wonder why we are all so scared to let them handle our health care......