More than 300,000 Virginians in underserved communities rely on this funding for basic healthcare services
U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) recently joined a bipartisan group of Senators in calling on Senate leadership to reauthorize funding for community health centers, which provide access to cost-effective primary and preventive care for families across the country.
“Community health centers serve a vital function, providing affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens. They provide quality medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care to more than 27 million patients, including 330,000 of our nation’s veterans and eight million children, at over 10,000 sites nationwide,” said the Senators in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “Without an extension of the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF), community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding. This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs and approximately nine million Americans losing access to their health care.”
“Over 300,000 Virginians in 144 communities depend on this funding for access to basic health care services. We greatly appreciate Senators Warner and Kaine, and all of our members of Congress coming together to make sure that these critical health care services are not interrupted to these medically underserved communities,” said Rick Shinn, Director of Government Affairs, Virginia Community Healthcare Association.
As the Senators note in their letter, the CHCF expired on September 30, 2017. The failure to reauthorize the fund has jeopardized access to care for millions of Americans and made it difficult for community health centers to adequately plan for everything from staffing needs to securing loans for capital projects.
According to the Virginia Community Healthcare Association, more than 300,000 Virginians in underserved communities rely on this funding to access basic healthcare services.
“We look forward to working with you to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the community health center program and enable our community health centers to continue providing high quality and affordable care to those in need,” the Senators concluded.
-Submitted by Rachel Cohen