[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3862 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3862

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to extend funding for the 
                 National Health Service Corps program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2017

Mr. Butterfield (for himself, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Ben Ray Lujan of New 
   Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to extend funding for the 
                 National Health Service Corps program.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Health Service Corps 
Strengthening Act of 2017''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) program 
        provides scholarships and loan repayment for primary care 
        providers serving in designated shortage areas of the country.
            (2) The NHSC program has proven to be an effective and 
        cost-efficient program that enables providers to both choose 
        primary care practice and serve in a shortage area of the 
        country.
            (3) Since its founding 45 years ago, more than 50,000 
        providers have participated in the NHSC program.
            (4) Today, more than 11 million people receive access to 
        primary medical, dental, and mental health services from a NHSC 
        provider.
            (5) However, more than 66 million people live in designated 
        primary care shortage areas of the country. Additionally, more 
        than 51 million live in dental health shortage areas, and more 
        than 106 million live in mental and behavioral health shortage 
        areas.
            (6) A modest expansion of the NHSC through 2022 would 
        enable nearly 5 million additional people to receive primary 
        care through a NHSC-supported provider.
            (7) A 5-year extension of the funding for the NHSC is 
        critical to preserve access to care for millions of underserved 
        people.
            (8) For these reasons, it is vital to extend and strengthen 
        the NHSC program for fiscal year 2018 and beyond.

SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF FUNDING FOR THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE CORPS 
              PROGRAM.

    Paragraph (2) of section 10503(b) of the Patient Protection and 
Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 254b-2(b)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (D), by striking ``and'' at the end; 
        and
            (2) in subparagraph (E), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) $320,000,000 for fiscal year 2018;
                    ``(G) $330,000,000 for fiscal year 2019;
                    ``(H) $340,000,000 for fiscal year 2020;
                    ``(I) $350,000,000 for fiscal year 2021; and
                    ``(J) $360,000,000 for fiscal year 2022.''.
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