Pots of money pretty please for primary care training and diversity programs!

Here's a call to action (read: e-mail petitioning) from the Society for General Internal Medicine. Unfortunately, I don't know explicit criteria for judging the stimulativeness of any given line item, but I would hope curing sick folks (some of whom work and make things!) would rank somewhere pretty high.

Later this week, a joint House-Senate conference committee will meet to reach a compromise on a massive economic stimulus bill. The House version of that bill includes $600 million for primary care health professions training, diversity and nurse education programs. This would double the current level of funding, a long needed beginning to healthcare reform.Unfortunately, the Senate version of the economic stimulus bill does not include funds for these Title VII primary care training programs.

Please contact your two senators and your representative today! Lawmakers need to be convinced that the compromise bill they send to President Obama must include $600 million to help ensure the supply of primary health care providers, namely internal medicine, family medicine, pediatricians, dentists and nurses.