It's been 12 years since the passage of The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). It's important to note that a crucial element of that key legislation was the creation of The National Healthcare Workforce Commission, mandated to provide for a sufficient number of health care workers in the future. The statutory intent is to collect data on our present workforce, project needs based on our aging and chronically ill population and make effective preparations so that health care is accessible to all Americans, now and in the coming decades.
Over a decade later, as we face a crisis of worker shortages in health care, the National Healthcare Workforce Commission has yet to hold its first meeting. Why? Because Congress has repeatedly passed on the opportunity--and its obligation--to appropriate a meager $3 million for the Commission to do its work. Pathetic.