This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 19, 2011 - An advocate for the needy and the uninsured warned Wednesday that some community health centers in Missouri and nationwide would have to either close or curtail services if Congress makes sharp cuts in funding for public health.
The U.S. House voted to approve a continuing resolution that includes trimming $1.3 billion in funding for community health centers nationwide. Joe Pierle, CEO of the Missouri Primary Care Association, says a cut of this magnitude would hamper the delivery of health services throughout Missouri. The organization represents Missouri's community health centers and promotes access to health care for residents across the state.
"This is about a 50 percent cut in our appropriation nationwide, part of our core budget for community health centers," Pierle said. "If health centers receive a 50 percent cut, they will do one or two things or both. They are going to have to shut down locations or reduce services that they provide."
He says the money is crucial because most patients, mainly the uninsured and unemployed, are unable to cover the cost of their care.
"Patients pay on a sliding scale. But what they pay doesn't begin to cover the cost of health care," Pierle said. "So we end up using this federal grant that we get through this federal appropriations to help make up that difference."
The move to cut spending is part of a larger GOP-led effort to help reduce the deficit. But Pierle says community health centers have enjoyed broad bipartisan support since the days that former Rep. Newt Gingrich was speaker of the house. Pierle says his group had made that point to the Missouri delegation, particularly its GOP members who were more likely to support the cuts.
"Now is not the time for partisan politics to play a hand in the foreclosure on a health lifeline for tens of thousands of Missourians," Pierle said. He added that hundreds of health center employees stand to lose their jobs.
Pierle says the cuts also would be unwise because they would have repercussions for containing and controlling costs. Many patients would be pushed into "more expensive health care through unnecessary hospitalizations and emergency room visits," he said.
Funding for the Beacon's health reporting is provided in part by the Missouri Foundation for Health, a philanthropic organization that aims to improve the health of the people in the communities it serves.
