The White House has announced a $1.5 billion initiative designed to shore up healthcare access in rural or otherwise underserved areas and help diversify the nation’s healthcare workforce.
Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the initiative Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. EST, with remarks also by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and other healthcare leaders.
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The funds will be filtered through the National Health Service Corps, the Nurse Corps, and substance use disorder treatment and recovery programs, providing scholarships and loan repayments for healthcare students in exchange for a commitment to work in “hard-hit and high-risk” areas.
The money is part of the $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” President Joe Biden signed in March. The White House says the funding will support more than 22,700 providers, including doctors, dentists, nurses, and behavioral health providers.
Along with bolstering access to healthcare in underserved areas, another goal is to increase diversity in healthcare. Only about 7% of physicians are black or Hispanic, according to the White House, compared to more than a quarter of doctors in the National Health Service Corps.
People in rural areas, who have lower vaccination rates and tend to be older and heavier, are dying of COVID-19 at more than twice the rate of urbanites. Access to care is also difficult in many rural areas, a problem that appears to have gotten worse over the last two years.
Student loan debt for graduate health education can exceed $200,000, presenting a barrier to entry the White House hopes to lower, using the program to expand the number of doctors, dentists, and nurses entering the workforce over the next decade.
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The announcement follows the release of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force’s final report. Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced $785 million from the American Rescue Plan would be aimed at building vaccine confidence in rural areas and places with low-income populations, as well as creating a new apprenticeship program.
Together, the two programs amount to just under $2.3 billion.
