Quote:It has been 52 years since I and my colleague, Dr. Count Gibson, launched the first two community health centers in this country under the auspices of Tufts University Medical School. One was in rural Bolivar County in the Mississippi delta and the second in a Boston public housing project. Since then that model has become the very backbone of the national health safety net in the United States, with over 10,000 sites caring for 27 million people living in or near poverty, and in many cases without health insurance.

Yet now, as a consequence of congressional paralysis, these health centers are faced with a potential loss of billions in federal support. Without action in the next few weeks, 9 million patients will lose access to primary and preventive care; over 51,000 providers and other staff will lose their jobs; health centers will be forced to close at least 2,800 sites; and economically stressed communities will lose $7.5 billion in local health-care investment. Health centers provide a full range of primary care and are designed to emphasize prevention, accessibility, and affordability, and they have been credited with significantly improving the health of both their individual patients and the communities they serve.

Quote:The Congressional Budget Office drastically lowered its estimate of the cost to renew a health insurance program for low-income children, likely making it easier for lawmakers to agree on a plan for extending the program. In a letter sent Friday to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the CBO said that financing the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) would cost $800 million over the next 10 years — far lower than analysts' original estimate of $8.2 billion. Funding for the program, which provides insurance to nearly 9 million low-income children, expired in the fall, but lawmakers have temporarily extended funding. That funding was supposed to last through March, but states could run out of money for the program well before then. Democrats and Republicans are divided on how to fund the program. The lower cost estimate by the CBO, however, is likely to make it easier for lawmakers to strike a deal.