Well, as most everyone knows by now, the U.S. has undertaken the biggest social policy change since the 60’s with the passage of the healthcare bill that President Obama signed into law on Tuesday. There is still a reconciliation bill that corrects a lot of (what I like to call) political garbage that was in the orginal bill that was passed. The Senate is ironing out the reconciliation bill and should be voting on it today or tomorrow. There has been some slight tweaks to the bill, so the House will have to vote on the bill again before being sent to the President to sign.

I’ve been frantic with other policy fun here at the state level this week and have not had time to fully digest what is in the health reform bill. I am including some links for you to follow if you’d like to read more about the health reform bill. I hope to have something posted that has some more in depth information next week.

National Rural Health Association
American Medical Association
Kaiser Health News

At the state level, HB10-1138 (Colorado Health Service Corps) is up for hearing today at 1:30 in SCR 356. You can listen online by clicking HERE. This is a bill CRHC is in support of as it will strengthen the state’s ability to more efficiently and effectively administer the state loan repayment program. It does not have any opposition that I’m aware of, so should sail through the Senate Health & Human Services Committee without issue.

Also, the Long Bill (aka FY10-11 Budget) should be introduced next week. I will be dissecting what is in the budget in regards to rural healthcare services and posting that information here as soon as I’m able.