“In case Karen Handel missed it – and it appears that she did – community health providers in Georgia are cutting back after her and Washington Republicans missed a deadline to renew the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Community Health Center (CHC) Fund,” said DCCC spokesman Jacob Peters. “Handel hasn’t said a word or lifted a finger in response to this preventable crisis that will hurt Georgia children and working families, and has instead been focused on supporting Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to cut taxes for wealthy special interests.”
Federal funding for CHIP and the CHC fund expired on September 30th. In 2016, nearly 9 million children received health insurance coverage through CHIP – including 232,050 children in Georgia. The CHC Fund provides about 70% of the funding for the Health Center Program. In Georgia alone, 35 health centers are at risk of closure.
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WABE: Ga. Community Health Centers Concerned Over Missed Funding Deadline
https://www.wabe.org/ga-community-health-centers-concerned-missed-funding-deadline/
Georgia community health advocates are raising concerns after Congress recently missed a deadline to renew billions of dollars of funding for community health centers. The funding, which provides federal grants to health centers, expired on Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year.
That funding includes about $84 million for community health centers in Georgia, said Duane Kavka, executive director of the Georgia Association of Primary Health Care.
Kavka said the direct impact of won’t be felt at community health centers until January, when some grant cycles begin for the next fiscal year, but said it’s caused a level of uncertainty for centers.
“It allows a dark cloud to be hanging over our head,” he said.
Carole Maddux, the executive director of the Good Samaritan Health & Wellness Center in Jasper, Ga., said it’s affected her ability to plan for the center, which has been expanding.
“For instance, I’ve got several openings on my staff right now that I’m trying to fill, and in the back of mind there’s always this uncertainty because the funding hasn’t been renewed yet,” Maddux said.
There are 34 community health center organizations in Georgia with more than 200 clinics across the state, Kavka said. They primarily serve low-income and uninsured patients, he said.
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Atlanta Journal Constitution: Funding now expired, Georgia health care providers see impact
In Washington this past week, lawmakers abandoned another all-out attempt to repeal Obamacare and then headed home to take stock.
Meanwhile in Georgia, a clinic network funded by regular federal grants halted replacement of badly needed dental chairs and stopped work on a planned contract to recruit a pediatrician.
A Houston County couple watched their health insurance crumble. The Georgia commissioner of community health drew up contingency plans.
All of that is happening here now because Congress — absorbed over the past few months in undoing the Affordable Care Act — has not approved funding for other long-standing, bipartisan health care programs that affect millions of patients and faced Sept. 30 expiration or crucial deadlines.
Those dates passed this past week.
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