H.Con.Res.144 - Recognizing the value, benefits, and importance of community health centers as health care homes for millions of people in the United States.111th Congress (2009-2010)

Recognizing the value, benefits, and importance of community health centers as health care homes for millions of people in the United States.

Recognizing the value, benefits, and importance of community health centers as health care homes for millions of people in the United States.

Whereas community health centers currently form the backbone of the health care safety net of the United States, caring for more than 1 of every 5 low income uninsured people in the United States and providing almost 1 of every 5 Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program office visits;

Whereas more than 60,000,000 individuals in the United States are medically disenfranchised, lacking access to primary care services regardless of insurance coverage;

Whereas health centers effectively remove barriers to care by providing cost-effective, high quality, comprehensive preventive and primary health care, and effective care management for individuals with chronic conditions;

Whereas, as a result, health centers have compiled a well-documented record of reducing health disparities and improving patient health outcomes, lowering the overall cost of care for their patients by 41 percent as compared to overall costs for those who receive care elsewhere, generating $18,000,000,000 in savings each year for the health care system;

Whereas an expansion of the highly effective health centers program to provide a health care home for all 60,000,000 medically disenfranchised people in the United States would increase the overall savings they generate for the health care system to more than $80,000,000,000 each year;

Whereas Congress has recognized the value of the care that health centers provide to those enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by making their services a guaranteed benefit and by establishing a mechanism to appropriately reimburse them for the quality care they provide;

Whereas private insurance often does not appropriately reimburse health centers for the full spectrum of care they provide, forcing health centers to divert other funds intended to support care for those in need to instead subsidize under-payments for their privately insured patients; and

Whereas millions of people in the United States are in need of a health care home like that provided by health centers, and health centers are a proven model of health care delivery that assures high-quality, cost-effective health care in every State of the Union: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That—

(1) Congress—

(A) recognizes that the current payment mechanisms for Federally-Qualified Health Centers in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Medicare are essential to assuring access to quality, affordable, primary and preventive care services for their beneficiaries; and

(B) recognizes that any expansion of private insurance must include mechanisms to ensure the full participation of, and appropriate reimbursement to, Federally-Qualified Health Centers in order to ensure adequate access to care for those who are medically underserved and disenfranchised; and

(2) it is the sense of Congress that—

(A) everyone should have the choice of a community health center as their health care home and every health center should be appropriately reimbursed for the high value preventive and primary health care it provides; and

(B) health care reform should include measures to expand community health centers in order to reach more of those who need a health care home.