The community health center crisis

Federally qualified health centers, most of which are in a category called community health centers, are vital health care infrastructure. They are non-profit community based organizations that receive federal support to provide primary care services in medically underserved areas, and to serve the uninsured and underinsured. Most of their income is from Medicaid and Medicare, and they charge on a sliding scale (going to zero) for people who are uninsured. They typically provide pre-natal care, may have dentistry and other specialty care, and substance abuse and mental health treatment. Right now they are in crisis. The physicians who wrote the linked article work at Upham ' s Corner Community Health Center, which I am very familiar with from my time in Boston. It ' s in the " United Nations " community in Dorchester. Like all CHCs, Upham ' s Corner has been financially devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic. They were already in financially perilous circumstances. Congress cut off their subsidy funding for many months in 2017, and it is now scheduled to expire again in November. With the precipitous decline in visits during the pandemic, they have lost much of their revenue from health insurance and many have been forced to close. As Doctors Kishay and Hayden tell us:Congress should adequately fund CHCs. We cannot rely on our private health system to care for Americans in crisis. Though the $1.3 billion provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs