Access for All To make expanded coverage meaningful, we must
remove barriers to care that harm the less-affluent and certain
racial and ethnic communities. A shortage of primary care
providers in many urban and rural areas continues to keep health
care out of reach for many, unfairly dividing our society
between health care haves and have-nots. AARP advocates a
national effort to build a larger, culturally competent health
care workforce to fill the gap in primary care and the shortages
of those trained to deal with the special needs of older
patients. Medicare can lead the way by requiring greater
accountability for hospitals that receive Medicare funding to
train doctors, to ensure the right balance of primary care
providers and specialists is produced. But meeting the health
care needs of all communities will also require a greater role
for non-physician healthcare professionals. Unnecessary limits
on Advanced Practice Registered Nurses are an unwise barrier to
primary care. State and national policymakers