Grants Will Help Serve State Residents and Create Jobs
Staff reports
Acting to strengthen the health care safety net for the growing number of Americans in need, President Barack Obama and Senator Kay Hagan (N.C.) today announced the release of $2.6 million authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will support two health centers in North Carolina. These health centers will help people in need — many with no health insurance — obtain access to the comprehensive primary and preventive health care services and create 85 jobs in North Carolina.
“We have acted quickly to put Recovery Act dollars to good use in
communities across America,” said President Obama. “The construction
and expansion of health centers will help create thousands of new jobs
and provide critical assistance to Americans who have lost their job
and their health care. Health centers, primary care, and prevention are
at the heart of my plan for an affordable, accessible health care
system.”
Health centers in the following communities will receive support:
Nationwide, grants totaling $155 million will assist 126
health centers and help provide health care to an estimated 750,000
low-income people across the country. The grants, which are
administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), are expected to
create 5,500 jobs at the new health centers across the country.
HRSA’s network of 1,100 health center grantees across the nation
provides health care at more than 7,000 sites, ranging from large
medical facilities to clinics and mobile vans. In 2007, health centers
served 16.1 million patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
Charges for services are set according to income, and only nominal fees
are collected from the poorest patients. Nationally, about 39 percent
of health center patients have no health insurance.
HRSA’s grants typically account for about 19 percent of a health
center’s total revenue. Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal grants
and payments total about 46 percent of revenue; remaining operating
funds come from state and local grants, foundations, and patient
payments.
To locate a health center near you, visit www.findahealthcenter.hrsa.gov .
