Good grief, do you even understand some of the things you write or even comment upon?
The idea of the Osteopathic Medical schools ,which are growing by leaps and bounds in this country, is to try and get more people to specialize in primary care, something that was long forgotten by the older more established schools that tended to steer students toward specialization. Alabama has two of these now, with at least one more opening in Hattiesburg MS. These schools turn out far more primary care doctors (family practice, internal medicine, OB-Gyn, and pediatrics) than any other schools in the country
Melson's comments were likely inferring about the fact that we now have these students here in our area learning at our hospitals, with the hopes of bringing them back into the area when they graduate. On top of this it is a known fact that too many people, especially those on Medicaid, will use the ERs for common ailments because of the convenience and the fact that many offices will not accept Medicaid, so they do not have personal physicians. If we can build a system where these doctors come out of school and do not owe a ton of money back for their education, they are more likely to settle in a rural area such as ours, and accept Medicaid.
Alabama did not take the AHA funds, therefore there are many who now fall thru the loopholes in the system. The USSC will soon be deliberating the stand which our state and many others took, and it is likely that most states cannot offer the new insurances, nor tax their residents, if they do not participate.
It was an unfortunate quandry that money had to be taken from one group, and in many cases their insurance as well, in order to provide insurance for only a few. In reality all we did was take a few who were uninsured and insure them , while making a few more uninsured and costing them more money to get it. Melson will be a fine senator who actually understands the problems we face. He has my support.