Thousands of federally-funded community health centers throughout the country deliver free and low-cost outpatient services to tens of millions of uninsured and lower-income Americans each year. Historically, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have supported these centers. But, now, the Commonwealth Fund reports that Congress has put these centers on the chopping block and many might not survive.
Community health centers (CHCs) provide a range of health care services, including primary care, chronic care management, behavioral care, maternal care, and dental health care to more than 31 million Americans every year. CHCs are there for people who cannot afford to pay privately for their basic health care needs and people who live in rural communities without private health care providers. They offer cost-effective care to people who cannot pay high health care costs.
CHCs provide high-value care, which is what the Trump administration says it wants in our health care system. A Congressional Budget Office analysis last year found that additional government investments in CHCs could save Medicare and Medicaid billions of dollars.
Unfortunately, recently, both the Trump administration and Congress have been cutting CHC funding. Grant funds to CHCs have been frozen, forcing some CHCs to close and others to fire staff. In addition, Congress reduced CHC funding to $4.26 billion from $4.4 billion, even though there are more CHCs and more patients using them.
Moreover, if Congress cuts Medicaid, as appears to be the desire of the majority of Republicans, CHC revenues will take a big hit. Medicaid dollars represent more than 40 percent of CHC revenue.
Even before the administration and Congress began cutting funding to CHCs, many experts projected that CHCs would not have the resources needed to meet community needs. CHCs have been seeing more people who are uninsured or who are unable to pay for their care.
Here’s more from Just Care:
Leave a Reply