Officials from the Biden administration announced some new funding during a visit to central Wisconsin.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and others were in central Wisconsin to talk about accessing quality health care no matter where you live.
Whether it's their local hospital closing, increasing medication costs, or lack of resources for clinics, people in Central Wisconsin have been through the ringer when it comes to healthcare, but it hasn't gone unnoticed, with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and others coming to hear directly from them.
They started with a Q and A session with healthcare providers at the Rothschild Pavilion, where they announced that the HHS Department would give an additional $11 million dollars to funding for rural communities to expand residency programs for healthcare providers. Becerra said that it's important to keep quality healthcare workers here at home, where they're needed most.
Becerra said, "We know that if you start your residency program as a newly-minted physician, in a particular location, by the time you finish that residency program in two, three, four years, chances are you're going to stay in that community."
That went along with the administration stressing the importance of access close to home. Becerra said, "Perhaps the most important thing post-COVID that we've learned is, if you don't have access, you don't have care. If you don't have flexibilities, even if you have care, you may not get that care you need."
The group then traveled to Mid-State's Simulation Center at Aspirus Riverview Hospital, to see the next generation of Wisconsin's healthcare workers getting some practice. White house domestic policy director Neera Tanden said that centers like this will help provide a path to a good paying job, without the expenses of a college degree.
Tanden said, "We want to ensure that people have opportunities for middle-class jobs, good paying jobs, with multiple pathways to get there."
They also touted the administration's investments in mental health.
