Rep. McMorris Rodgers to propose renewing a program that brings doctors to rural and underserved areas

While Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act many times, there is one Obamacare program she’s looking to save.

Next week, McMorris Rodgers plans to introduce legislation that would provide three more years of funding for teaching health centers, a program that seeks to draw medical students to complete residencies serving in isolated or underserved rural and urban hospitals. A popular measure with bipartisan support, teaching health centers were first established in 2011 as a part of the Affordable Care Act, and their funding was renewed again in 2015.

McMorris Rodgers, though not a co-sponsor of the 2015 bill, voted in favor of extending its funding until 2017. With funding now set to expire in September, she said she has spoken with fellow Republicans and U.S. House of Representatives leadership – as well as members on the other side of the aisle – who are supportive of making the program more permanent.

“I have been very encouraged by the support I’ve gotten from leadership, Republicans and Democrats,” McMorris Rodgers told The Spokesman-Review in a phone interview. “There’s a chance to get (the bill) passed included as part of the health reform.”

In May, the House passed the controversial American Health Care Act just weeks after an earlier version was pulled from the floor because Republicans could not secure the necessary votes. While the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the initial version of the bill could cause 24 million Americans to lose their health coverage, the bill that came to the floor in May was passed before the CBO could evaluate it – it later reported 23 million Americans could lose their insurance.

The Senate is now working to write its own health care reform bill, a process that has been criticized for lacking transparency because discussions on the bill are not public.

Rural areas struggle to ensure that there are enough medical professionals to provide care, due to their isolation, and demand for care may be higher since rural patients struggle with a higher rate of chronic illnesses. And while the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration reports it currently supports 700 residents in teaching health center programs this year, it also estimates that the physician shortage will grow to more than 23,000 by 2025.

According to the Washington state Department of Health, several counties in the state are considered medically underserved, including parts of Spokane and Spokane County.

However, teaching medical centers have made an impact in the Spokane area. McMorris Rodgers announced her new legislation at the Spokane Teaching Medical Center, a clinic on the Washington State University campus run by a nonprofit. In recent years, Spokane has seen an influx of medical residents due to programs developed by WSU, as well as by University of Washington with Gonzaga University.

More than just extending the program, McMorris Rodgers said her bill will look to increase the number of federal dollars committed to students selecting residencies in underserved areas, as well as proposing new programs to bring doctors to where they’re desperately needed.

“It’s about ensuring there are doctors – primary doctors, family doctors, psychologists – who can provide care,” she said.