Senate Finance Committee Adopts Amendments that Expand Access and Strengthen Health Centers in Health Care Reform
The U.S. Senate Finance Committee’s completed health care draft legislation contains two amendments that will strengthen the national network of Community Health Centers and help expand access to care to more patients, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) noted in applauding the decisions of the Committee.
One bipartisan amendment, passed on a voice vote, would provide fiscal relief for health centers that have been caring for the nation’s elderly. U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) spearheaded the amendment, which included among its provisions the Medicare Access to Community Health Centers (MATCH) Act. The amendment would not only remove the cap on health center Medicare reimbursement, but also provide for an appropriate and predictable Medicare payment system. Since it was first implemented in the early 1990s, the Medicare cap has triggered substantial revenue losses for more than 75 percent of health centers that treat Medicare patients. If enacted into law, the Snowe-Bingaman-Lincoln amendment would ensure that more seniors have full access to care at health centers.
The Committee also approved an amendment championed by U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) that would ensure that private insurance plans operating through the new "health insurance exchanges" pay health centers no less than the fair and predictable rate currently received under Medicaid. After a short debate, the amendment passed, 14-8. Each of the Committee's Democrats, as well as Republican U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe (ME), voted in favor.
“We thank the Senators on the Finance Committee, and Chairman Max Baucus, for their skilled leadership and support on these amendments, which are critical to America’s Health Centers and the 20 million patients they serve,” said Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO of NACHC. “Passage of these important amendments in this historic effort is crucial to putting health centers, our patients, and our prevention-oriented system of care at the heart of health care reform.”
Founded in 1971, the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to enhance and expand access to quality, community-responsive health care for America’s medically underserved and uninsured. NACHC represents the nation’s network of more than 1,200 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which serve more than 20 million people through 7,000 sites located in all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
