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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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OR Community Health Centers Peer Over a "Funding Cliff"

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Friday, July 18, 2014   

MEDFORD, Ore. – Oregon's Community Health Centers are making a case to Congress to not let some of their operational funding expire next year, saying they're seeing more low-income patients than ever.

The centers are local clinics that treat patients no matter their insurance status or ability to pay, and they've been expanding their facilities to meet the added demands of the Affordable Care Act.

For the 14 southern Oregon locations of La Clinica, CEO Brenda Johnson says the cutbacks would come at the wrong time, when there's already a shortage of health services in rural areas.

"It would be devastating for a health center,” she stresses. “We've grown to provide a lot of services for the low-income in our population, based on this funding, from behavioral health services to dental services. And things that aren't covered under Medicaid expansion, they simply wouldn't receive in this community."

Johnson says cutbacks would affect not only clinic operations but related programs to recruit and train young doctors for careers in small towns.

Part of the Community Health Centers' funding runs out unless it's reauthorized by Congress by next fall.

Nationally, the centers say a cutback would mean care for 7 million fewer patients by 2020.

Dr. Gary Wiltz is board chairman of the National Association of Community Health Centers. As a doctor in rural Louisiana, he says a health clinic also can be a big economic boost to a small community.

"We're employing 250,000 people nationwide,” he points out. “You know, fairly good-paying jobs. And by nature, we are located particularly in the rural areas, like I'm in."

He says the majority of Community Health Center patients are low-wage workers, some of whom have health insurance but can't afford medical expenses or are in states that haven't expanded their Medicaid programs.

He adds the centers have launched a push for continued funding, called Access is the Answer.

"Primary care is the foundation that this country needs to be built on,” he says. “If you have good health promotion, disease prevention, primary care, then you'll have a healthier population and the dividends will pay off tremendously as we move forward."

Studies have praised Community Health Centers for their effectiveness at keeping costs down and making health care accessible.

Wiltz says the system has its champions in Congress, including some Oregon lawmakers, but no guarantees that funding will be maintained.



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