"As the country's future physician workforce, we insist that our leaders consider a single public plan as the very minimum health reform option," proclaimed Dr. Brian Hurley, AMSA national president.

At 2:00 pm, students will march down Pennsylvania Avenue to rally at the steps of the Capitol. After, they will visit legislators and ask them to pass legislation in the House and Senate to increase authorized funding for the U.S. National Health Service Corps to $1.15 billion by 2015 and to strengthen global health systems and health workforce with $14 billion for the world's most devastating infectious diseases.

"I am heartbroken to tell you that after I finish medical school, insurance executives will dictate to me that my job is to deny care to my patients," said Mary Carol Jennings, AMSA Jack Rutledge Legislative Director and organizer of the rally and lobby day. "Congress and our President share my responsibility to ensure that my patients, here and abroad, have access to a doctor, and to the health care to which I have dedicated my life to providing."

The National Health Service Corps funds debt relief and scholarship incentives for qualified primary health care providers to practice in federally underserved areas. On the campaign trail, President Obama committed to doubling foreign assistance over the next five years.

"Health is global; disease knows no physical boundaries," said AMSA national policy team member Shazia Mehmood. "Not only must we drastically scale up the number of primary care providers we train in the United States, but we must also create a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy that directs our foreign aid to building sustainable health care jobs and health workforces in developing countries."

AMSA is working with Congress to create a U.S. strategy that focuses on development and support of the recruitment, training, education and retention of health care workers in the United States and in their countries of origin. For more information, please visit www.amsa.org/conv/lobbyday.cfm

The American Medical Student Association (AMSA), with more than a half-century history of medical student activism, is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States. Founded in 1950, AMSA is a student-governed, non-profit organization committed to representing the concerns of physicians-in-training. With more than 67,000 members, including medical and premedical students, residents and practicing physicians, AMSA is committed to improving medical training as well as advancing the profession of medicine. To learn more about AMSA, our strategic priorities, or joining the organization, please visit us online at www.amsa.org

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