Community Health Center Advocates Make Case for $30 Billion in Funding by 2030

The budget for America's Community Health Centers is up for renewal. File photo.(Rostislav_Sedlacek/Shutterstock)

Supporters of America’s community health centers presented the case for a funding boost of up to $30 billion by 2030 during a March 2 budget hearing.

“Immediate and long-term funding is more vital than ever before,” CEO of Advocates for Community Health, Amanda Pears Kelly, told the assembly.

Kelly illustrated that community health centers (CHCs) currently help 30 million people, with the ultimate goal of growing to meet 40 million primary care patient needs by 2030.

Communities in rural America are driving much of this need, where primary care is either limited, too expensive, or physically out of reach for underserved populations.

Communities Without Primary Care

Between 2010 and 2021, 136 rural hospitals closed, leaving CHCs to pick up the slack for primary care.

Kelly noted that without CHCs, some communities would go without access to primary care facilities.

Ben Harvey, CEO of the Indiana Primary Health Care Association, supported this. He added that rural parts of his state are where many residents lack insurance or health care access, driving higher rates of mental health issues and chronic disease.

Though the crux of the argument for increased funding is how much money CHCs save America’s health care system. This is particularly true when people who lack first-level care options defer to hospital emergency rooms for treatment.

One study showed that uncompensated care costs for uninsured patients in the United States averaged more than $42 billion annually between 2015 and 2017.

Dr. Robert Nocon at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine told the assembly that a “large body of evidence” exists demonstrating that CHCs lower overall health care costs when used for primary care.

He said on average, those costs are lower by 15 percent for adults and 22 percent for children.

According to Kelly, annual savings for Medicare and Medicaid alone amount to more than $24 billion. That’s because when people have primary care access, less time and money is spent seeking secondary care.

Fewer Hospital Admissions

Harvey also said CHC patients have fewer hospital admissions and lower rates of multi-day hospital stays.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said that republicans “support this issue” and noted that rural America tends to carry a “greater disease burden.”

He also noted pastoral communities consistently have fewer doctors and health care personnel.

“If we improve health on the front end, we avoid costlier care on the back end,” Cassidy said during the hearing.

Though he clarified this support by saying the current economic climate demands a more cautious approach to spending.

“Americans expect and deserve a full and thorough review of how their tax dollars are spent.”

The Health Resources and Services Administration currently funds 1,400 CHCs throughout the United States. Many low-income and uninsured patients use these facilities as primary care centers.