ADA supports Lower Costs, More Transparency Act

Bipartisan bill funds programs to strengthen access to health care

The ADA is expressing support for the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, a health care bill aimed at addressing workforce investment and increasing price transparency throughout the health care system. 
 
Specifically, the ADA supports efforts to extend the Community Health Center Fund, the National Health Service Corps and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program, which the organization said in a letter are “crucial steps towards shoring up our nation’s dental and medical workforce so that more Americans can have access to high quality health care.”
 
Expanding National Health Service Corps programs would address problems with health workforce distribution and local shortages, while also providing an opportunity for dentists to reduce student loan debt through service. The Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education would provide resources to dental programs by training residents to serve vulnerable populations in community-based settings such as federally qualified health centers and tribal health centers. 
 
“Extending and expanding this funding would provide increased stability to teaching health centers and strengthen continuity of care in underserved communities,” the letter reads. 
 
Addressed on Sept. 18 to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr., D-N.J., House Committee on Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo., and House Committee on Education and the Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the letter goes on to note that the bipartisan bill would both extend and expand the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program. Because many Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education training sites are in medically underserved communities, extending the program’s funding would likely increase access to care and provide better health care to those in need, according to the ADA letter. 
 
“America’s dentists thank you for your leadership on health care workforce issues,” the letter concludes. “The ADA is ready to work with you to ensure that the dental workforce is sufficient to provide access to care for all Americans across our nation.”
 
Follow all the ADA’s advocacy efforts on workforce at ADA.org/advocacy/advocacy-issues/workforce.