Tim Kaine: “communities of color and those living in rural and underserved area face significant barriers to healthcare, including…”

“communities of color and those living in rural and underserved area face significant barriers to healthcare, including physician shortages. Unfortunately, in many communities of color and rural areas, there are few pathways to enter the medical profession. Recent data shows that while medical school enrollment is up by 30 percent, the number of students from rural areas entering medical school declined by 28 percent between 2002 and 2017, with only 4.3 percent of all incoming medical students coming from rural areas in 2017. Similarly, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American students face several barriers to matriculate and graduate from medical school. This exacerbates the barriers to care and the disparities in health outcomes that these communities experience. It is critical that we expand the diversity of our physician workforce to tackle the rampant disparities and systemic biases within our healthcare system. This is why I am introducing the Expanding Medical Education Act, which aims to tackle the lack of representation of rural students, underserved students, and students of color in the physician pipeline by encouraging the recruitment, enrollment, and retention of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.…”