Local Community Clinics Receive HHS Grants to Help Residents Access Health Coverage, Local Jobs Created
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield, CA), California’s former Insurance Commissioner, is happy to announce that the Department of Health and Human Services has awarded grants to three community health centers in the 3rd Congressional District to help the clinics enroll uninsured Americans in new health coverage options made available by the Affordable Care Act.
Nationwide, 1,159 clinics received $150 million in grants. Locally, Ampla Health in Yuba City received $219,314, CommuniCare in Davis received $144,261, and Winters Healthcare in Winters received $69,911.
“Our community health centers are an important resource for neighbors in need of affordable and accessible care. The HHS grants will be used to hire 2,900 outreach and eligibility assistance workers at community clinics throughout the country to help millions of Americans acquire the insurance they need,” Congressman Garamendi said. “I want to thank Secretary Sibelius and her team for using this grant to help my constituents in Yuba City, Davis, and Winters.”
As a California legislator, Garamendi authored a law, the Rural Health Services Act of 1976, which expanded community clinics in unserved and underserved rural areas and provided health care for hundreds of thousands of Californians.
Health centers have a long history of providing eligibility assistance to patients along with delivering high-quality primary health care services in communities across the nation. Today, health centers serve more than 21 million patients annually.
Today’s announcement is part of the Administration's larger effort to make applying for health coverage as easy as possible. The new, consumer-focused HealthCare.gov and Spanish Language CuidadoDeSalud.gov websites and the 24-hour-a-day consumer call center at 1-800-318-2596 help Americans prepare for open enrollment and ultimately sign up for health coverage. These new tools will help Americans understand their coverage options and select the plan that best suits their needs when open enrollment in the new Health Insurance Marketplace begins October 1, 2013.
For a list of health centers receiving this funding, visit: https://www.hrsa.gov/about/news/2013tables/outreachandenrollment/.
To learn more about the Affordable Care Act, visit www.HealthCare.gov. To learn more about HRSA’s Health Center Program, visit https://bphc.hrsa.gov/about/index.html.