Health Care Bill Creates a New Health Emergency Army

SEC. 5210. ESTABLISHING A READY RESERVE CORPS.
14 Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42
15 U.S.C. 204) is amended to read as follows:
16 ‘‘SEC. 203. COMMISSIONED CORPS AND READY RESERVE
17 CORPS.
18 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—
19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be in the Service
20 a commissioned Regular Corps and a Ready Reserve
21 Corps for service in time of national emergency.
22 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—All commissioned officers
23 shall be citizens of the United States and shall be ap24
pointed without regard to the civil-service laws and
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1 compensated without regard to the Classification Act
2 of 1923, as amended.
3 ‘‘(3) APPOINTMENT.—Commissioned officers of
4 the Ready Reserve Corps shall be appointed by the
5 President and commissioned officers of the Regular
6 Corps shall be appointed by the President with the
7 advice and consent of the Senate.
8 ‘‘(4) ACTIVE DUTY.—Commissioned officers of the
9 Ready Reserve Corps shall at all times be subject to
10 call to active duty by the Surgeon General, including
11 active duty for the purpose of training.
12 ‘‘(5) WARRANT OFFICERS.—Warrant officers
13 may be appointed to the Service for the purpose of
14 providing support to the health and delivery systems
15 maintained by the Service and any warrant officer
16 appointed to the Service shall be considered for pur17
poses of this Act and title 37, United States Code, to
18 be a commissioned officer within the Commissioned
19 Corps of the Service.
20 ‘‘(b) ASSIMILATING RESERVE CORP OFFICERS INTO
21 THE REGULAR CORPS.—Effective on the date of enactment
22 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all indi23
viduals classified as officers in the Reserve Corps under this
24 section (as such section existed on the day before the date
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1 of enactment of such Act) and serving on active duty shall
2 be deemed to be commissioned officers of the Regular Corps.
3 ‘‘(c) PURPOSE AND USE OF READY RESEARCH.—
4 ‘‘(1) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Ready Re5
serve Corps is to fulfill the need to have additional
6 Commissioned Corps personnel available on short no7
tice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve pro8
gram) to assist regular Commissioned Corps per9
sonnel to meet both routine public health and emer10
gency response missions.
11 ‘‘(2) USES.—The Ready Reserve Corps shall—
12 ‘‘(A) participate in routine training to meet
13 the general and specific needs of the Commis14
sioned Corps;
15 ‘‘(B) be available and ready for involuntary
16 calls to active duty during national emergencies
17 and public health crises, similar to the uni18
formed service reserve personnel;
19 ‘‘(C) be available for backfilling critical po20
sitions left vacant during deployment of active
21 duty Commissioned Corps members, as well as
22 for deployment to respond to public health emer23
gencies, both foreign and domestic; and
24 ‘‘(D) be available for service assignment in
25 isolated, hardship, and medically underserved
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1 communities (as defined in section 799B) to im2
prove access to health services.
3 ‘‘(d) FUNDING.—For the purpose of carrying out the
4 duties and responsibilities of the Commissioned Corps
5 under this section, there are authorized to be appropriated
6 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014 for
7 recruitment and training and $12,500,000 for each of fiscal
8 years 2010 through 2014 for the Ready Reserve Corps.’’.