Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney went to bat for Community Health Centers last week.
There are four of them in Orange County that could be affected by a sharp cut in federal funding — the Greater Hudson Valley Family Health Center (GHVFHC), Hudson River Healthcare, Ezras Choilim Health Center and the Middletown Community Health Center.
At GHVFHC, for example, patients pay on a sliding scale based on their income. The center can offer a discounted rate because its bolstered by federal funding.
Now that funding could be cut by 70 percent as the government looks for ways to reduce expenses. Rep. Maloney referred to the dilemma before signing a letter to the chairman and the ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Labor.
“While Congress must make smart budget decisions,” the representative said, “it’s senseless to significantly cut a cost-effective investment in primary and preventive health care…. Thousands of my neighbors rely on community health centers to provide quality and affordable health care.”
The Congressman, who received an award for his support of health centers in 2014, discussed the funding issue with nearly a dozen of his constituents on March 19.
The letter he plans to sign indicates that, across the country, health centers service 23 million people, including nearly seven million children and 268,000 veterans.
In addition to providing medical care, the centers have been helping patients enroll for health insurance.
