STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL
Re: Rural Health Care Support Mechanism, WC Docket No. 02-60
I support the Commission’s extension of the rural health care pilot program’s 
funding for limited purposes, for a time certain, and for up to a specific amount.  In so 
doing, I underscore my long-standing interest in the FCC completing comprehensive
reform of all components of the universal service fund, including the rural health care 
program.  I look forward to completing this reform in a fiscally responsible way and 
doing so in a manner that embodies Congress’s recognition that the creation of the rural 
health care program could help rural Americans have access to advanced health care as 
do urban Americans.