AAP Press Statement on President Obama's 2013 Budget

By: Robert W. Block, MD, FAAP, president, American Academy of Pediatrics 

"The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) believes in investing in children’s health and well-being now and in the future. While we strongly support President Obama’s 2013 budget request for funding of Section 5203 of the Affordable Care Act—a new pediatric subspecialty loan repayment program to individuals who commit to pursuing full-time employment in pediatric medical subspecialties and surgical subspecialties—we are profoundly disappointed in his decision to cut federal investments in Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) for a second year in a row.

 “Loan repayment will indeed go a long way to help pediatric subspecialists manage the cost of medical education, but without a sufficient investment in training the next generation of general pediatricians and expanding the ranks of pediatric subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists in the United States, access to specialized children’s health care services will continue to deteriorate. There is already an unsustainable shortage of pediatric subspecialists in this country, and continuing to inadequately fund CHGME will exacerbate the problem. 

“Today, approximately one in three American children must travel 40 miles or more to receive care from a pediatrician certified in adolescent medicine, developmental and behavioral pediatrics, neurodevelopment disabilities, pulmonology, emergency medicine, nephrology, rheumatology, or sports medicine. And for many pediatric subspecialties in parts of the country, families must wait as long as three months just to get an appointment with the right specialist to care for their child. 

“As the number of American children with chronic conditions like obesity, diabetes and asthma continues to rise and the number of pediatricians and specialists available to care for them declines, we need to do everything necessary to increase investments in the pediatric workforce. While subspecialty loan repayment is a good first step, we should not be cutting back on federal resources for programs like CHGME.” 

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. (www.aap.org)