NACHC Responds to House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Action on 2013 Spending Bill
House LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Takes Action on 2013 Spending Bill
Today, the Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education Appropriations Subcommittee passed their LHHS Appropriations spending bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 today. This legislation, should it become law, maintains the current funding level of $2.8 billion for health centers.
The draft legislation also rescinds $300 million in funding for health centers under the Affordable Care Act for FY13, which would have the effect of precluding any expansion of the Health Centers program in the upcoming year. As a result, communities in need throughout the country will continue to wait for approval of new health center site and expanded services applications.
“In this extremely difficult fiscal environment, we appreciate the fact that health centers will be able to maintain current operations under Subcommittee legislation, but the absence of funding for expansion of the program means many communities will continue to grapple with significant unmet need for health care and health center services,” said Dan Hawkins, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC). “We look forward to working with the House and with the Senate as they move forward with the appropriations process to reconcile the differences between the two versions of the legislation to ensure expansion funding for health centers is included in the final FY13 Appropriations bill. We also look forward to working with House and Senate leaders to resolve the Health Centers program’s discretionary base funding issue in order to ensure the stability of health centers in future years.”
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Founded in 1970, 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 over 1,200 Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), which serve over 20 million people through over 8,000 sites located in all of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam.
