In March 2015, CVCH leadership visited elected officials in Washington D.C. Not long thereafter, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to continue mandatory funding for health centers in an overwhelming bi-partisan majority vote (392-37). On April 14, 2015, the Senate also voted overwhelmingly to pass HR 2, which includes $7.2 billion in mandatory funding for the Health Centers Program. And now, President Obama has signed the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 into law. The law includes a 2 year extension of critical mandatory funding for Community Health Centers, at its current levels, as well as for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) and the Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) Program. It guarantees access to care for 28 million people who CHC's are projected to serve over the next year!
Click here to read NACHC's statement on the passage of HR 2.
Thousands of other Health Center Advocates made this a reality, through phone calls, emails and visits with elected officials (in Washington D.C. and here in WA state). In the NACHC press release, there is a quote from Dan Hawkins, Senior Vice President of Policy and Research at NACHC. “Access to care in health centers improves the health of patients and communities, generates economic impact and saves the health system and taxpayers’ money. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to deliver on the promise of H.R. 2 and make access to affordable care a reality for millions of patients.”