One result of the downturn in the economy has been a significant increase in the number of men, women and children who no longer are able to pay for health care on their own. Now, they must turn to a community source for health care and for preventive services. Community health centers and the local government centers that operate them have had a tough time meeting the increased demand. That’s as true in Hamilton County as it is elsewhere around the country. Some help, though, is on the way.
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department is slated to receive $2.7 million to upgrade its facilities and to expand its services, according to a Friday announcement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The grant is part of $24 million awarded to agencies in Tennessee and $727 million granted to community health centers across the country under the auspices of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, The funds are more than welcome in a time of need. They should help the county agency to provide assistance to more hard-pressed residents of the community.
According to the HHS, the Tennessee grant should allow state community health centers to serve approximately 12,790 new patients. In addition to Hamilton County, other state grants were awarded to Cookeville, Johnson City, Rogersville and Linden. No information on the number of additional patients in Hamilton County that might be served was available. Whatever the number, though, it will improve the overall health of the community.
Ditto for other states and communities. Georgia, for example, was awarded more than $8 million. Those funds are designated for centers in Columbus and Wrightsville, according to the HHS. In all, grants totaling $727 million to almost 150 community centers around the nation were announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
Some critics are sure to denounce the grants as another “government giveaway.” That’s unfair, and it is far from the truth.
The grants, in fact, are a substantial and useful investment in community infrastructure and services. They should allow health centers to serve hundreds of thousands of additional patients. The value of those services is almost incalculable at a time when millions of Americans have no health coverage because they’ve lost jobs or because employers no longer provide insurance.
Community centers are one of the few places those individuals can find reliable preventive and primary health care service. A government program that underwrites or expands those services is welcome at any time, but especially so during a particularly difficult economic period.