Steve Buyer: “I applaud the gentleman from Wisconsin for his efforts to save money, but he has chosen the wrong target. There have…”

“I applaud the gentleman from Wisconsin for his efforts to save money, but he has chosen the wrong target. There have been no hearings or an in-depth analysis of the effects of closing the university. In fact, the GAO report, which he just cited says: As Congress makes decisions regarding both physician accession programs, it will need information not only about the programs' relative costs, but also about their effects on the short- and long-term requirements for military physicians and the value of the other university activities. Acting without an understanding of the full implications of these actions could have a devastating impact upon military medical readiness, as well as medical recruiting and retention. The proposal to close the school is based on a very selective and misleading use of the GAO study results. While the GAO report did indeed find the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to be the most expensive source of military physicians, when comparing educational costs only, it also found that when all Federal costs are considered, the cost of a university graduate is comparable to that of the scholarship program graduates. The chart for which the gentleman just referred does not take into account all Federal costs. It does not spread out all costs on the years of service or, in fact, take in the requirement of having to militarily train these doctors. This action is premature.”