WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined a bipartisan group of senators in calling on Senate leadership to immediately reauthorize funding for community health centers. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.), King and 66 of his Senate colleagues expressed their strong support for community health centers, which provide access to cost-effective primary and preventive care for more than 200,000 people in Maine. 

“Community health centers serve a vital function, providing affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens,” wrote the senators. “They provide quality medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care to more than 27 million patients, including 330,000 of our nation’s veterans and 8 million children, at over 10,000 sites nationwide. … Without extension of the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF), community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding.  This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs, and approximately 9 million Americans losing access to their health care.” 

As the senators note in their letter, the CHCF expired on September 30, 2017. The failure to reauthorize the fund has jeopardized access to care for millions of Americans and made it difficult for community health centers to adequately plan for everything from staffing needs to securing loans for capital projects. Senator King highlighted the product of this uncertainty in a November floor speech, during which he discussed the potential loss of dental care for a Maine community after a dentist recruited by a federally qualified health center had his application for placed on hold. Senator King has also toured community health centers in Jackman and Portland, where health professionals and advocates reinforced the importance of these centers to community health, and signed a September letter with a bipartisan group of 70 senators, urging the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairman and Ranking Member to extend funding for community health centers.

In addition to Senator King, the senators who signed on to the letter include: Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Cory Booker (N.J.), John Boozman (Ark.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Tom Carper (Del.), Bob Casey, Jr. (Pa.), Bill Cassidy (La.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Christopher Coons (Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Steve Daines (Mont.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Cory Gardner (Colo.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), Dean Heller (Nev.), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), John Hoeven (N.D.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Doug Jones (Ala.), Tim Kaine (Va.), John Kennedy (La.), Angus King (Maine), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Robert Menendez (N.J.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Rob Portman (Ohio), Jack Reed (R.I.), James Risch (Idaho), Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Tina Smith (Minn.),Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Tom Udall (N.M.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Mark Warner (Va.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), and Roger Wicker (Miss.).

A PDF of the letter can be found HERE and the full text is below.

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The Honorable Mitch McConnell                               The Honorable Charles Schumer

Majority Leader                                                          Minority Leader

United States Senate                                                  United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510                                              Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer:

We write to express our concern over funding for community health centers, which expired on September 30, 2017.  We strongly urge you to reauthorize this funding immediately.

Community health centers serve a vital function, providing affordable health care to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.  They provide quality medical, dental, vision and behavioral health care to more than 27 million patients, including 330,000 of our nation’s veterans and 8 million children, at over 10,000 sites nationwide.  By offering preventative care, treating chronic conditions, and working to fight the opioid epidemic, community health centers are not only greatly improving the health and well-being of those they serve, they are also saving significant taxpayer dollars.  

Without extension of the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF), community health centers will lose seventy percent of their funding.  This will result in an estimated 2,800 site closures, the loss of 50,000 jobs, and approximately 9 million Americans losing access to their health care.  Moreover, community health centers operate as small businesses and require a level of predictability to operate and respond to the needs of their communities.  Since the expiration of the CHCF, community health centers have not been able to adequately plan for everything from staffing needs to securing loans for capital projects. In addition, the expiration of the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Centers Graduate Medical Education program threatens the ability of health centers to meet their workforce needs.

For more than fifty years, community health centers have experienced strong bipartisan support.  In fact, twenty bipartisan senators cosponsor legislation which reauthorizes funding not only for community health centers but also for the National Health Service Corps.

We look forward to working with you to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the community health center program and enable our community health centers to continue providing high quality and affordable care to those in need.