Something that didn’t get much comment in the ObamaCare debate is Section 5210 of the odious, authoritarian bill — a pdf of which can be found here. It starts on page 496 and greatly expands the role of the U.S. Public Health Services Commissioned Corps.
Section 5210 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act establishes a “ready reserve corps” for the Commissioned Corps with the purpose of the reserve being to “fulfill the need to have additional Commissioned Corps personnel available on short notice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve program) to assist regular Commissioned Corps personnel to meet both routine public health and emergency response missions.”
The reserve will be subject to involuntary call up and be subject to response to “public health emergencies, both foreign and domestic . . .”
The reserve will also “be available for service assignment in isolated, hardship, and medically underserved communities. . .to improve access to health services.”
Do these health services include providing abortions?
A “medically underserved” community, btw, would be the population of an urban or rural area designated by the Secretary (of Health and Human Services) as an area with a shortage of personal health services or a population group designated by the Secretary as having a shortage of such services.
ObamaCare authorizes $5 million per fiscal year through 2014 for the training of the Commissioned Corps and $12.5 million per fiscal year through 2014 for the training of the Ready Reserve Corps.
The bill doesn’t spell out what kind of training this reserve will receive but it is a radical departure from how health services had been provided in emergencies.
Bill,
Have you ever heard of the Public Health Service? Have you ever wondered why the Surgeon General wears a uniform?
This “new branch” has been in existance in one form or another since 1798.
http://www.usphs.gov/