Recession Brings More Patients to Community Health Centers
The recession has brought more patients to America's Health Centers -- a trend documented by a new National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) fact sheet.
Highlights:
- A NACHC survey found that total visits increased 14 percent between June 2008 and June 2009 among health center responders – compared to 6 percent between calendar years 2007 and 2008. Total visits for uninsured patients increased by 21 percent over the same time period.
- Most health centers still need at least one new delivery site to adequately respond to the health care needs in their communities.
- About two-thirds of health centers (68 percent) reported that at least 10 percent of their patients have recently been affected by unemployment. One in five health centers (19 percent) put the proportion at 30 percent or higher, an indication that access is increasingly a problem for middle-class families.
- State-level funding cuts may undermine any progress centers would otherwise achieve their stimulus-supported activities, and at worst eliminate their impact entirely. NACHC's statewide survey found that some states, like Colorado and North Carolina, have specifically used health centers' American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding as the rationale behind reductions in funding for health centers in their states. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reports that at least 27 states have slashed funding for health programs of various kinds.
Click below to access the new fact sheet.
Related Documents:
09-29-2009
Recession Brings More Patients to Community Health Centers, Sept 2009
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