New Report: Health Care Law Make Community Health Centers Stronger

The President's health care law gives hard working, middle-class families the security they deserve. The Affordable Care Act forces insurance companies to play by a new set of common sense rules, prohibiting them from dropping your coverage if you get sick, billing you into bankruptcy through annual or lifetime limits, and, soon, discriminating against anyone with a pre-existing condition.  

The new law is also delivering critical support to Community Health Centers nationwide. This morning, the Obama Administration announced new grants made possible by the Affordable Care Act to support 398 renovation and construction projects at Community Health Centers nationwide. These projects will help Community Health Centers serve nearly 900,000 more patients. And these grants are just one of the ways the new health care law and our Administration are making Community Health Centers stronger.

According to a new report we released today:

• The health care law has already supported 190 construction and renovation projects at health centers and the creation of 67 new health center sites across the country, 
• Since the beginning of 2009, employment at health centers nationwide has increased by 15 percent. 
• Thanks primarily to the Affordable Care Act and the Recovery Act, community health centers are serving nearly 3 million additional patients today.

Unfortunately, some in Congress want to refight the political battles of the last three years and repeal the Affordable Care Act. Here’s what repealing the health care law would mean for Community Health Centers and millions of Americans:

• Over the next two years, the health care law will support more than 485 health center construction and renovation projects and the creation of 245 new community health center sites. These new sites will support an additional 6,000 jobs. Without the health care law, these centers will not be built.  
• Without the health care law, an additional 1.3 million additional new patients that will get care at a Community Health Center in the next two years will have to look elsewhere for health care or simply go without the care they need. 

Supporting our community health centers is just one way the Affordable Care Act is making our health care system stronger. To learn more about how the law is improving health care for millions of Americans nationwide, visit whitehouse.gov/healthreform.

Cecilia Muñoz is the Director of the Domestic Policy Council