Increase in health center funding falls short

Potential Medicaid cuts could further threaten the centers' role in the health care safety net, study finds.

By Joel B. Finkelstein, AMNews staff. April 4, 2005.

Washington -- Despite recent infusions of federal dollars, community health centers are struggling under the weight of growing demand and the threat of Medicaid cuts, according to a recent report prepared for the National Assn. of Community Health Centers.

In 2002, President Bush launched a five-year initiative to expand health center capacity by 6.1 million patients. About 10.3 million were served in 2001. There are now more than 1,000 centers serving 15 million people in 3,600 neighborhoods and communities, the report showed. They provide care for one in eight of the uninsured.

The president's proposed fiscal year 2006 budget includes another increase of $304 million for community health centers. With that additional funding, Bush's initial expansion plan should be completed next year. He has announced a new goal of putting a health center in every poor county.

According to the report, there are 929 poor counties with 20 million people who have no access to a community health center.

While increased federal funding is appreciated, demand continues to outstrip health center resources, said Dan Hawkins, vice president of federal, state and public affairs at NACHC.

The report notes that for every one low-income, uninsured patient that a health center treats, there are four others needing services. Some states have more difficulty meeting this need than others.

Oklahoma, for example, has 64 poor counties, but only 10 of those have a health center. That means that each center would have to see 40,000 patients to cover the state's uninsured population, said Greta Shepherd Stewart, MPH, executive director of the Oklahoma Primary Care Assn.