It's been 123 days since the Republican congress decided to take sick people hostage, and allowed funding for community health centers and the Children's Health Insurance Program to lapse. The CHIP kids have finally been taken care of, or at least the ones whose families don't rely on community health centers for their care. Because those centers are still not funded, and the whole of the industry wants that dealt with.
A group of 75 leading healthcare industry organizations have penned a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to reauthorize and fully fund community health centers. Not doing so would considerable impede patient access to healthcare, the signatories suggested. […]
“This lapse in authorization and funding, coupled with the continuous enactment of short-term patches, has put in jeopardy health care services for seniors on Medicare and patients in underserved communities, resources for health care providers in rural communities, and programs aimed at training primary care physicians,” the signatories wrote.
The signatories were clear that they were not upset by the CHIP reauthorization and long-term funding; that move should have been accompanied by long-term funding for community health centers, they argued, noting the benefit CHCs have on patient access to healthcare.
The effort was led by America’s Essential Hospitals but garnered the support from the Association of American Medical Colleges, March of Dimes, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Patient Advocate Foundation, and the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, among several others.
That's just a handful of the 75 groups, representing most of the industry, who are sounding the alarm. As many as 27 million people—including 9 million veterans—rely on these centers for care. It's not just direct medical services that they provide, but links to other social services including food, housing, and wellness resources. They're at the front line in responding to the opioid epidemic as well.
The effects of this uncertainty are going to ripple through the whole healthcare system. It's going to hit red states and blue states indiscriminately, and it's going to make health care an even more salient issue in November.
Jam the phone lines of House and Senate Republicans. Call (202) 224-3121, and tell them to stop holding people's health care hostage.