U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today led a bipartisan letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Charles Schumer urging long-term funding of community health centers (CHCs).
“Community health centers provide affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” Daines 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.”
The letter, which was cosigned by 25 senators, 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.
To read the full letter click HERE.
Background:
Daines has been a strong supporter of community health centers.
Daines is a cosponsor of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act (S.106), which provides a five-year reauthorization of and an increase in funding for the Community Health Center Fund.
In early April, Daines sent a letter to the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, urging the Subcommittee to prioritize community health center funding.
###