Excerpt:

June 26, 2017

CLYBURN-SANDERS PRESSER ON COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS BILL

Washington, D.C. – Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn delivered the following remarks today on the Clyburn-Sanders Community Health Centers Bill (as prepared for delivery):

“I am pleased to join Senator Sanders to introduce the Community Health Center and Primary Care Workforce Expansion Act.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said in 1966, ‘Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.’

“I have often described the Affordable Care Act as the Civil Rights Act of the 21st Century, because it banned many forms of discrimination in the healthcare system. The ACA made great strides towards the long- held goal of universal health insurance coverage for all Americans. Equally important, however, is insuring universal access to healthcare in every community throughout the country. The ACA dramatically expanded the federally funding for community health centers and the National Health Service Corps which in tandem provide health care facilities and providers in underserved communities, both urban and rural. This is key to connect health insurance coverage to actual health care. I believe Congress should act to build on the steps taken by the ACA to further expand community health centers to ensure that there are adequate facilities and qualified providers available to every person in America, no matter where they live.

“Senator Sanders and I championed a provision in the ACA that created the Community Health Center fund. It provided mandatory funding of $9.5 billion over five years to expand community health centers operations and $1.5 billion for construction and renovations of Community Health Center facilities. The fund also provided mandatory funding to expand the National Health Service Corps. While this funding was originally scheduled to expire after 2015, we were able to successfully secure a two year extension of the fund. Unfortunately, this vital funding expires on September 30th of this year. We must address this funding cliff and we need to expand the funding to provide 100 percent coverage of community health centers because they fill such a vital role in our health care system. They serve communities that few other providers serve.

http://assistantdemocraticleader.house.gov/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=BEB47EA8-EBCD-468D-9CDE-537B20B84DD9