The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 currently being considered in Congress is being billed as a package to jumpstart the troubled economy by cutting taxes and creating jobs, but it is clear that it also reflects many of the policies favored by the Democratic majorities and President Obama. This is the first in a serious of articles that will look at exactly what is being proposed in each of these key policy areas: healthcare, clean energy, education, infrastructure, and science.
Overhauling and improving the nation’s current health care delivery system to provide quality care for all Americans has been a central campaign issue for Obama and congressional Democrats. Realizing this will not be a task accomplished with one single bill, Obama selected former South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle to not only lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) but also put him in charge of the newly created White House Office of Health Reform.
While many of the spending measures in the bill go directly to federal agencies, others are designed to be distributed to local and state governments and other organizations in the form of grants. One health care related federal agency that stands to benefit from the bill in its current form is the Indian Health Service (IHS) who would receive $550 million to modernize aging hospitals and health clinics and make healthcare technology upgrades. This is not an insignificant amount for a relatively small agency with a 2008 budget of $3.35 billion.
IHS is the main health care provider for an estimated 1.9 million American Indians and Alaskan Natives, many of whom live in rural underserved areas. During his confirmation hearing, Daschle specifically emphasized focus on IHS, which falls under his purview at HHS. “On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, one half of the people over 40 have diabetes. And the life expectancy today is just 47 years, or what life expectancy was for the rest of the country in 1900. This is unacceptable,” he told the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The much larger Veterans Health Administration could receive $950 million to begin tackling a $5 billion backlog in needed repairs at its 153 medical facilities. Medical facilities within the Department of Defense could get $3.75 billion for new construction of hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, and $455 million in renovations for existing facilities. The goal with each of these spending actions would be to improve health care services while also creating a need for construction jobs.
Realizing that a significant part of our health care problem is a shortage of primary healthcare providers in many areas of the country, the bill would provide $600 million for the National Health Service Corps to help pay medical school expenses for students who agree to practice in underserved communities. $1.5 billion is slated for renovating nonprofit Community Health Centers throughout the country, $1.1 billion would go to the research that would compare the effectiveness of different medical treatments funded by Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP, and $3 billion is proposed for grants to state and local public health departments for prevention efforts.
The biggest single health care item, however, is a staggering $20 billion to jumpstart efforts to computerize health records. Experts say that electronic health records (EHRs) can cut health care costs through fewer medical errors and redundant procedures, faster diagnoses and treatment of serious illnesses, and timely health screenings. While many Americans support the concept of EHRs, there remains much concern about privacy.
It is unlikely that all provisions in the bill will survive and be signed into law and entirely possible that more will be added as the bill progresses, however the bottom line is clear – Democrats are indeed putting our money where their mouth is when it comes to promises regarding health care.
Get our Newsletter!
Click here to sign up and stay informed
Also in the series:
Related Stories: