[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2180-E2181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE HEALTH CENTER PROGRAMS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 29, 1997

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman 
from, Illinois, Congressman Danny K. Davis, for sponsoring this special 
order this evening. I am very pleased to join him in this discussion on 
an issue of great importance to the Congress and this Nation--community 
health centers.
  The recently enacted Balanced Budget Act of 1997 will make nearly $13 
billion in Medicaid cuts from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 
2002. This will severely impact the way in which health care is 
financed and delivered across the Nation. The numbers of uninsured 
Americans and the cost of health care services are continuing to rise. 
Yet, the availability of financial resources to address these concerns 
is diminishing. Thus, we must carefully consider community health 
centers as a model of community-directed health care for our changing 
health care system.

[[Page E2181]]

  Community health centers are unique public/private partnerships which 
were created to provide increased access to health care services for 
the Nation's poor and underserved. Located in isolated rural and inner 
city areas, with few or no physicians, that suffer with high levels of 
poverty, infant mortality, elderly and poor health, they hold the 
distinction of being locally-owned and operated by the very communities 
that they serve.
  Our health care system relies heavily on charitable care to meet the 
growing health needs of the Nation's 37 million uninsured--as well as 
the million individuals with insufficient coverage. Community health 
centers provide invaluable health care services to more than 10 million 
of the Nation's most vulnerable and underserved individuals. These 
patients include minorities, women of childbearing age, infants, 
persons infected with HIV, substance abusers and/or the homeless and 
their families. In fact, according to the Bureau of Primary Health 
Care, of the 33 million patient encounters at community health centers 
in 1996, 65 percent of the persons served were African-American and 
other minorities, 85 percent were poor, and 41 percent were uninsured.
  Community health centers are the true safety-net providers of this 
Nation. As such, they obligated to provide health care services to all 
patients without regard to their ability to pay. Patients are billed 
for health services on a sliding fee scale in order to ensure that 
neither income nor lack of insurance serves as a barrier to care. And, 
Federal grants received by the centers are used to subsidize the cost 
of health care that is provided to uninsured patients as well as those 
services which are not covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private 
insurance.
  Community health care centers also provide high quality cost-
effective care. In fact, studies show that the average total health 
care costs to patients are 40 percent lower than for other providers 
that serve the same population. Significant savings are also achieved 
by reducing the need for hospital admissions and emergency care.
  Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, as a health advocate, 
and as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, I 
am concerned about the toll that the changing health care market is 
taking on many families across this Nation. Congress must recognize 
that community health centers play a critical role in filling health 
care service gaps. Therefore, I join my colleague, Congressman Davis, 
in urging our colleagues to ensure that this unique provider of health 
care services is preserved and strengthened to accommodate the growing 
health needs of the most vulnerable among us, the poor and the 
underserved.

                          ____________________