by Abby Pinkele

Yesterday, the Senate Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Appropriations Subcommittee approved the Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) LHHS bill by a party line vote of 10-7.  The bill will come before the full Appropriations Committee for consideration on Thursday.

The Appropriations Committee will release the full text of the bill on Thursday when they begin their markup.  According to a press release from the Subcommittee, which can be viewed here, the legislation will provide $158.8 billion in total funding to the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Education and other related agencies.  Of that allocation, Health Centers will receive approximately $1.6 billion in discretionary funding.  Combined with the $1.5 billion in mandatory Affordable Care Act funding though the Health Center Fund, the FY13 program level for health centers is approximately $3.1 billion—an increase of $300 million.

At this point, we do not know if the legislation ensures the entire $300 million increase in funding will be spent immediately to increase access to primary care services- a key component of the health center request- until we see the full bill on Thursday.  Stay tuned for a more detailed analysis and a press release on the contents of the full Senate LHHS Appropriations bill Thursday.