Bill Text: TX SCR34 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to ensure the fair allocation of Medicare funding for graduate medical education to all states.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-21 - Referred to Higher Education [SCR34 Detail]
Download: Texas-2017-SCR34-Introduced.html
85R13807 RMA-D | ||
By: Kolkhorst | S.C.R. No. 34 |
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WHEREAS, Graduate medical education (GME) is a vital | ||
component of the nation's health system infrastructure, as it | ||
enables physicians who have recently graduated from medical school | ||
to continue their training through internship, residency, and | ||
fellowship programs; and | ||
WHEREAS, Medicare currently allocates funding for GME | ||
nationwide, but payments vary significantly depending on the state; | ||
for example, Medicare funds only 18 GME residents per 100,000 | ||
people in Texas, while it funds 77 GME residents for the same | ||
population in New York; moreover, such physicians in Texas receive | ||
subsidies that are less than half of that of their New York | ||
counterparts; and | ||
WHEREAS, Instead of continuing with this unequal system, | ||
Medicare should allocate funding for GME based on projected growth | ||
in state population and on the individual health care needs of each | ||
state; and | ||
WHEREAS, It is essential for the U.S. government to determine | ||
how best to improve health care in our country using limited federal | ||
dollars; to further that mission, Medicare should implement a new | ||
formula that allows all states to receive more equitable funding | ||
for graduate medical education; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 85th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby urge the United States Congress to ensure the fair | ||
allocation of Medicare funding for graduate medical education to | ||
all states; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward official copies | ||
of this resolution to the president of the United States, to the | ||
president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |