More than 50 years ago, Dr. H. Jack Geiger, a co-founder of the Community Health Center Movement, helped create a food co-op program in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Part of his mission was to ensure people would both have access to food and be invested in their own food security. Despite this early effort, food insecurity – difficulty …
Category: Health Care News
Fighting Food Insecurity: The Problem Solvers
Earlier this week NACHC issued a press release about our initiative to highlight Community Health Centers that are focused on fighting food insecurity in their local communities. Many may not be aware that 14 percent of people in the United States (48 million) face food insecurity. What does that mean exactly? It means they struggle to find sufficient …
Administration Actions on Marketplaces Create Major Uncertainty
By Colleen Meiman and Michaela Keller Last week, the Trump administration took two steps that have injected major uncertainty about the continuation and cost of coverage offered through the Marketplaces. On Thursday, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing federal agencies to advance three policies that would make it easier for individuals to purchase …
Partnering with Hospitals to Reduce Avoidable Emergency Visits
Roughly 13 to 27 percent of visits to the emergency department (ED) could be managed in a primary care setting, and the average non-emergency visit to the ED costs seven times more than the average health center visit. In the emerging landscape of value-based care, health centers and hospitals are exploring new partnerships to improve …
President Trump’s FY18 Budget: What Does It Mean for Health Centers?
By NACHC Federal Affairs Staff On Tuesday, President Trump released his FY18 budget proposal, which reflects the administration’s priorities for federal spending in the upcoming fiscal year. The President’s budget is a blueprint for national priorities, which is then submitted to Congress. Ultimately, it will be Congress that makes the final budget decisions during the …
African American Death Rate Drops 25 Percent
The death rate for African Americans declined from 1999 to 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s good news, but African Americans are still more likely than white Americans to die at a young age. Although African Americans are living longer, their life expectancy is still four years less than that …
How We Got Here & What’s Next for the AHCA
It’s been quite the week for health care here in Washington. The American Health Care Act, House Republicans’ effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was first declared dead then subsequently brought back from the depths before passing in the House last Thursday. In a little more than a week, the political …
Final FY17 Spending Deal Reached, Congress Expected to Vote this Week
Late Sunday evening, leaders in Congress came to final agreement on the FY17 spending package, which if signed into law later this week, will provide dedicated and reliable funding for the federal government through September 30, 2017. The House of Representatives is slated to vote on the $1.070 trillion bill tomorrow, and the Senate is …
Congress Temporarily Averts Shutdown
Earlier this afternoon, both the House and Senate passed a one week extension of federal funding in order to avoid a shutdown and continue negotiations on the FY17 spending package. With a deal on the FY17 spending package in sight, leaders in both chambers of Capitol Hill passed the short-term extension earlier today to give …
Avoiding a Shutdown, Resurrecting AHCA, and Closing Out the Wicker-Stabenow Health Center Funding Letter
BY: OLIVER SPURGEON, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NACHC FEDERAL AFFAIRS The halls of Capitol Hill are buzzing this week as Congress returns from the two week Easter Recess, President Trump and Congressional Democrats continue negotiations to keep the federal government open beyond Friday, April 28, the Wicker-Stabenow Health Center funding letter closes, and House Republicans consider bringing …