President Bush’s Budget Proposal Would Hurt California Provider Training Programs, Opinion Piece States
While President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget proposal would make fighting bioterrorism and increasing access to care among HHS' "primary mission[s]," the budget's proposed $278.5 million cuts in funding for health professions and nursing education programs would make it more difficult to reach these goals, Dr. H. John Blossom, director of the California Area Health Education Center, writes in a Fresno Bee opinion piece. The cuts—which represent a 72% decrease from last year—would mean a more than $15 million loss for California provider training programs, Blossom writes, adding that they would hurt the "fragile and important network of physician training programs that has been developed with federal health professions grants." Blossom states that federal family practice or area health education center grants can "mean the difference between a strong educational program and a weak one." He concludes that providers and those who gain from the program should "call on Congress to restore the funding" (Blossom, Fresno Bee, 9/16).
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