Peters, Stabenow Urge Long-Term Funding for Community Health Centers
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Gary Peters (MI) and Debbie Stabenow (MI) urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) and Minority Leader Charles Schumer (NY) to prioritize long-term funding of community health centers (CHCs). In a bipartisan letter, which was cosigned by 25 senators, Stabenow and Peters calls for immediate passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act of 2019, which would reauthorize the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) and the National Health Service Corps for five years. Funding for CHCs is set to expire on November 21, 2019.
Community Health Centers are a lifeline and safety net for more than 28 million people nationally and more than 700,000 people in Michigan, including 217,000 children and 13,000 veterans.
“Community health centers provide affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” the senators wrote. “More than 29 million patients, including 385,000 veterans and 8.7 million children, receive quality medical, dental, vision, and behavioral health care services from a community health center. These centers work to combat the opioid epidemic, offer preventive care to patients, and treat chronic conditions to improve the health of those they serve while saving taxpayer dollars. On average, health centers save over $2,300 per Medicaid patient and save the health care system $24 billion each year.
“If the CHCF expires, community health centers will lose seventy percent of their federal grant funding. According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, this would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans. As small businesses, community health centers must have certainty to best serve the needs of their communities and their patients. Some centers will soon have to take steps in anticipation of a funding lapse, including reducing staff and operating hours, cancelling capital projects, or even preparing to close their doors. If the CHCF expires next month, community health centers will be unable to plan for the future and continue to better the health of their communities. Additionally, the expiration of the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education program would harm the ability of health centers to meet their growing workforce needs.”
In addition to Peters and Stabenow, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.), Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), John Boozman (Ark.), Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Tom Carper (Del.), Susan Collins (Maine), Steve Daines (Mont.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (Miss.), Doug Jones (Ala.), Angus King (Maine), Joe Manchin (W. Va.), Martha McSally (Ariz.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Jon Tester (Mont.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.).
Click here to read the full letter.
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