People are making a big show about how much is contained in the massive health care reform bill now before the U.S. Senate after passage by the House last weekend.

If one takes the time, and it takes a lot of time, to read through this document there are some interesting tidbits.

How about loans for veterinary students ?

On page 1255 of the bill, veterinary students could be eligible for federal grant funding, including scholarships and loan forgiveness. There is $283 million in spending authorized under these sections.

Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) argued on the floor of the House last week for the provision. She asked of her Republican colleagues, “Have you ever heard of swine flu? Have you ever heard of food safety? Have you ever heard that 70-percent of all the antibiotics produced in the United States are given to cattle and poultry even though they are not ill? Swine flu should make them worry a little bit, don’t you think?”

I am trying to find the motivation in this and my stretch is perhaps this is a backward way for the agriculture industry to get more support from the federal government.
-Or-
There are a declining number of large animal veterinarians in this country, with more new graduates going into small animal practice, and this funding support will encourage more vets to enter the farm field.
-Or-
If there are more veterinarians then pet care costs will go down, more people could afford to care for pets, more people would get pets and the health benefits of pet ownership have been well documented.

I’ll stick with this last motivation.