Act Now to Help Fix the Cliff!

The Time is Now: Congress Must Act to Fix the Primary Care Funding Cliff

Below is a statement from NACHC President & CEO Tom Van Coverden on the President's FY16 Budget Proposal

In his budget proposal recently released, President Obama called for an additional $2.7 billion a year for three years in mandatory funding for Community Health Centers. This amount would be combined with discretionary funding of $1.5 billion and reserve funding from the existing Health Centers Fund. Taken together, the budget calls for funding to support continued operations and services at FY15 levels.

“For 50 years, America’s Health Centers have provided primary and preventive care to those communities and patients who have nowhere else to turn. We have done it by leveraging federal investments into high-quality primary and preventive care, delivering economic impact while saving the healthcare system many times what is invested up front. Thanks to that longstanding bipartisan support, today health centers serve some 23 million patients, including nearly seven million children and more than one quarter million veterans.

However, health centers’ fifty-year legacy of providing access to care is at risk; current mandatory funding for health centers is set to expire at the end of September. Without action by Congress to address the huge shortfall, health centers nationwide would be forced to close sites -- lay off providers and staff, and most importantly, turn away millions of patients in rural and underserved communities. Last year, 250 House members, 66 Senators (including many from the Ohio congressional delegation) and more than 100 national organizations called for a solution, yet with only eight months until the funding expires, it is time for Congress to act.

We are pleased to see that the budget proposal released by the President acknowledges the need for a multi-year solution to the funding cliff. By proposing three years of additional mandatory funding, the President has clearly signaled that maintaining our nation’s investment in health centers must be a priority. Yet with 62 million Americans today without access to primary care, it makes sense not only to keep health centers where they are, but given the increasing demand -- to continue investing in expanded access, better services and higher quality care. The dividends for patients, communities and the healthcare system are enormous.” Read the full press release. Your voice makes a difference – sign up to be a Health Center Advocate today.

View OACHC's Advocacy Resource Webpage here