High Plains health providers are closely eyeing the action in the nation’s capital to see if Congress will find a way to renew programs that fund community health centers and children’s health insurance.
The Senate is in recess this week, and the House of Representatives is out next week, so the timeline for finding funding for the CHIP program is running out. If Congress doesn’t act, Federal funding will drop by 70 percent.
The Oklahoman recently spotlighted the Oklahoma’s 20 federally qualified health centers, which treated about 200,000 people last year. If Republicans in Congress don’t act to renew funding, these patients—many of them children—will likely be without care in the future. Patrick Peer, CEO of Community Health Center of Northeast Oklahoma, said “If our funding goes away, we have no option but to close.”