Across the country, some 1,500 federally-funded community health centers deliver excellent primary care services to millions of people who are uninsured or otherwise in need. Now these health centers are scrambling to meet demand for their services with far less funding, reports Paula Andalo for KFFHealth News.
These community health centers, sometimes called federally-qualified health centers or FQHCs, are in high demand. But, because of Medicaid and other budget cuts, as well as the government shutdown, they need to cut expenses. They have few options. They can lay off medical or administrative staff or limit the services they deliver.
One CEO of an FQHC with 28 clinics serving 144,000 patients a year said it has never been so bad. The FQHCs are now struggling to serve more than 33 million people who rely on them for primary care and more at low or no-cost.
FQHCs depend upon Congress for a significant portion of their funding. But, Congress only extended their funding through the end of last month. With the government shutdown, they are now forced to function without these federal dollars.
At the beginning of 2024 the FQHCs got $4.4 billion in federal funds. They need about $5.8 billion a year from the federal government to function appropriately. With a sharp increase in the number of uninsured resulting from Medicaid cuts and, at least as of now, an end to the expanded Affordable Care Act premium subsidies, more people will be turning to FQHCs for their health care.
But $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts means even greater financial injury to these community health centers. Medicaid represented more than 40 percent of their revenue in 2023. Almost all of their patients have incomes less than twice the federal poverty level.
Some states are allocating additional money to their community health centers, though it is unclear whether these funds will continue and, if so, for how long. Other states are cutting back on support for these health centers; they don’t have the funds.
It’s likely that lack of funding for these health centers will lead to ballot measures, asking people to support higher taxes in order to ensure these health centers continue.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Congress must protect our community health centers
- 2025: Programs that lower your costs if you have Medicare
- Senator Sanders wants greater US investment in community health centers
- Federal cuts to Medicaid will have devastating consequences for older adults and people with disabilities
- Do you know about these free and low-cost benefits?
