U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined a bipartisan letter led by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) to call for immediate action to extend critical funding for community health centers before funding runs out at the end of this month. In a letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman and Ranking Member, Tillis, Stabenow, Blunt, and 58 other Senators expressed their strong support for community health centers, which provide access to cost-effective primary and preventive care for families across the country.
“Without an extension of the CHCF, community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding,” wrote the Senators. “This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs, and result in 9 million Americans losing their access to care…We are already hearing of the disruptive effects of the uncertainty created by the impending funding cliff on health center operations—this disruption will increase significantly without an extension of funding by September 30.”
Community health centers operate in both rural and urban areas, in every state in the nation, and are an important healthcare provider. Last year, health centers were the medical home for one in twelve Americans, one in ten children, one in six Americans living in rural areas, and more than 330,000 of our nation’s veterans.
*tillis.senate.gov
