May 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 5
AAFP president testifies
'We are disappointed' about Title VII proposal
Bruce Bagley, M.D., left, confers with Rep. John Porter after testifying to the subcommittee Porter chairs.AAFP President Bruce Bagley, M.D., met with a House subcommittee recently to discuss appropriations for 2001. In three words, he summed up AAFP's reaction to President Bill Clinton's plan to eliminate funds for family practice training: "We are disappointed."
The budget Clinton proposed would zero out Title VII, Section 747 funding of family medicine, dentistry, physician assistant, internal medicine and pediatrics training programs.
"Section 747 is crucial to training the physicians that America needs most; it is the engine that powers the growth of this nation's supply of family physicians," said Bagley.
The chair of the subcommittee, Rep. John Porter, R-Ill., said he was "dismayed" by the zero budget proposal.
Bagley, who practices in Albany, N.Y., thanked the subcommittee for its longtime support. Last year, the administration also wanted to zero out funding for family practice training, but -- with the committee's backing -- the specialty received about $49.5 million for 2000. That compares with $50.5 million for 1999.
"Without your help, funding levels would be much lower than they are right now, and the actual existence of family medicine training programs would be threatened," Bagley told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
Bagley asked for $87 million for the specialty in Title VII funds for 2001; $300 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (compared with the current $204 million) and continued support for rural health programs, including the National Health Service Corps.
The testimony Bagley presented is online at http://www.aafp.org/x984.xml.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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