Left In Lowell

It came up in comments to a previous post on the health care reform bill - the concept that bringing more people into the system, giving them health care access, would cause a shortage of doctors, particularly primary care physicians.

Well, gee, someone thought that through, and worked very hard to mitigate that. One of the most liberal members (OK, THE most liberal) of the Senate. The only one elected as an actual socialist, in fact.

The historic bill signed today by President Obama includes provisions Senator Sanders long advocated for, including $10 billion over five years to expand, construct and operate community health centers. It also increases the investment in the National Health Service Corps to train more primary care doctors and other health care professionals. Another $2.5 billion for health centers operations is in the reconciliation package.

All told, the legislation will double the number of health center sites nationally over the next five years from 7,500 to 15,000. The number of patients served by these facilities will rise from 20 million today to about 40 million by 2015. That means most Americans will have access to primary care, dental care, mental health counseling, and low-cost prescription drugs on a sliding-fee scale so that no one is turned away.

So much for the socialists = bad policy meme. On the contrary, the more progressive members are the ones who think ahead, plan for the inevitable outcomes, all on the side of the least among us. Wonder who’s the more Christian? Way to go, Bernie Sanders!