As Congress Stalls, Community Health Centers Face Closure or Cuts
That's not uncommon among the 1,400 organizations funded by the
Fish River also benefits from the
The federal government released enough money to keep both programs running through March, but advocates say many places are getting down to the wire. About 70 percent of community health centers' funding comes from the federal government. Without a guaranteed cash flow, community health centers around the country are struggling. If the next federal budget deadline comes and goes on
The uncertainty of future funding is already having an impact.
As Governing previously reported, one community health center was already forced to closed in
At Fish River, after the long-time dentist on staff announced his retirement, the clinic found a replacement and was working through the logistics of his contract when Pelletier got bad news: The candidate had received an email that
For the last few months, most of the conversation about the budget gridlock in
"Everybody in
While state health officials have been lobbying their members of
Hawkins says states gave a total of
"I told them that we're seeing your Medicaid patients, so if we go away, good luck in those emergency rooms," he says. "But we heard that there's no state money, that they're operating on an already tight budget. So we aren't seeing any help from the state, no."
In
Hawkins, however, says he's heard from lawmakers in
If community health centers' federal funding is ultimately not renewed, it's estimated that up to 160,000 jobs across the country could be lost.
"So if we're talking about closing doors, we're also talking about a major economic impact," says Mengenhausen.
Patients are starting to ask questions.
"I don't know if they've reached the point of panic, but they are getting curious," says Pelletier. "People thought when CHIP was reauthorized, so would community health centers."
In the meantime, she faces a retiring dentist and no easy way to replace him.
"It went from being this guaranteed program to 'wow, this could go away,'" says Pelletier, "and it did."
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