skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Loss of Funding Could Close Michigan Community Health Centers

play audio
Play

Tuesday, July 22, 2014   

LANSING, Mich. - Nationally and statewide, community health centers are peering over the edge of a funding cliff, despite more than 700,000 Michiganders annually using their services.

Community health centers are typically local clinics that treat patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay, and many have been expanding their facilities to meet the additional demands of the Affordable Care Act.

But according to Kim Sibilsky, CEO of the Michigan Primary Care Association, the federal grants which have allowed community health centers to grow are set to expire next year.

"Once you've geared up and expanded the system, if there isn't regular infusion of dollars, the system will roll back," says Sibilsky. "We're really talking about basic, annual funding."

There are 38 community health center organizations in Michigan which provide services at 260 sites located in rural and medically underserved areas across the state. Sibilsky says unless Congress steps in to continue the funding, some of those locations will either have to close or eliminate services.

She adds many of those services go beyond the physical, as community health centers were designed to address barriers people face when trying to take care of themselves and their families.

"They provide quality care," Sibilski says. "They are comprehensive primary care centers where you can get dental and mental health, substance use services, education, translation, transportation."

Dr. Gary Wiltz, board chairman of the National Association of Community Health Centers, says a loss in funding would affect not only clinic operations, but related programs to recruit and train young doctors for careers in small towns.

"We're employing 250,000 people nationwide," says Wiltz. "By nature, we're located particularly in rural areas."

Nationally, the centers say loss of funding would mean care for seven million fewer patients by 2020.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021