Republican promises to defund the Affordable Care Act and, perhaps, turn Medicare into a voucher scheme are getting a lot of attention right now. And rightly so. But the Republicans are also proposing a more immediate cut in health care spending--one that could impose real hardship on a population that can ill afford to bear it.
Specifically, the House Republicans propose to reduce federal funding for the health clinics known as "federally qualified community health centers." The change would take effect in the very near future, since it's part of the House Republican proposal for financing government operations through the end of this fiscal year.
If you want to get a sense of what I'm talking about, take a look at the St. John's Well Child and Family Center in South Central Los Angeles. Services there include dental care, parent workshops, literacy programs for children entering school, and so on. On one of my visits to St. John's a few years ago, a staffer told me that clinic workers were visiting patient homes to inspect for environmental hazards. Cockroaches nestling inside children's ears had apparently become a major problem, to say nothing of asthma and lead poisoning that are bona fide epidemics in that community.
If the case for funding these clinics seems a bit too bleeding heart for your sensibilities, consider that uninsured people who don't get primary care tend to end up in the emergency room, contributing to overcrowding and generating bills that hospitals eventually pass onto everybody else. That's one reason community clinics have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. In fact, it was the one health care program for low-income Americans that the Bush Administration endorsed consistently and enthusiastically, with dollars as well as words: "This is a really good use of taxpayers' money," Bush said at one point. "It makes a lot of sense to have Community Health Centers so that we can cut down on unnecessary visits to the emergency rooms. Health centers help lower the cost of health care for everyone.”
HERE.
