President Bush's proposed FY 2006 budget, if passed by Congress, would eliminate the Section 755 Allied Health Grants Program under Title VII of the Public Health Service Act. Overall, reductions in other Title VII health professions programs would amount to a total cut of 96 percent.
The allied health program and these other entities are the only federal programs designed to educate providers in interdisciplinary settings to meet the needs of special and underserved populations as well as increase minority representation in the health care workforce. In addition, they help address the geographic maldistribution of providers by educating them to deliver care in underserved areas, including rural and inner-city communities. Reports state that the graduates of these programs are up to 10 times more likely to practice in medically underserved areas than graduates of non-funded programs. Moreover, in many cases they serve as the only source of health care in several disadvantaged communities.
While acknowledging that there are many competing priorities in the fiscal year 2006 spending bill, it is important to realize that sustaining the funding of these programs is essential to maintaining the educational infrastructure in health professions schools nationwide.
I urge you to restore funding to the Title VII health professions programs to at least the FY 2005 level of $300 million. Allied health itself receives only $4.8 million of this amount. The rest of the money in Section 755 goes to clinical psychology, podiatric medicine, and chiropractic.
Thank you for considering this request.
Sincerely,