Community health centers are your neighborhood doctor’s office. For more than 50 years, you’ve been able to find them in communities across the state, providing high-quality primary health care in neighborhoods that would not have access to primary care without them. Today, these community health centers are at risk. And with budget negotiations in their final stretch, now is the time for our elected leaders to act, before it’s too late.
Community health centers serve more than 2.4 million New Yorkers annually—one in eight residents—yet they are among the most underfunded parts of our health care system. The state’s Medicaid reimbursement rates for CHCs haven’t been meaningfully updated in more than 25 years. As costs rise and needs grow, this stagnant funding has forced health centers to make heartbreaking decisions: cutting staff, closing clinics, and scaling back programs. All in communities with no other access to care.
This year, the New York State Senate has recognized this crisis and proposed an important solution: using a portion of the Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax to invest $100 million in CHCs, effectively increasing Medicaid rates by 5%. This would be a meaningful step toward financial stability and would help reverse the slow erosion of CHCs’ capacity to serve.
This is not a request for special treatment. It’s a call for basic fairness. Every New Yorker deserves a doctor, dentist, nurse, or other provider that meets them with dignity, compassion, and excellent care. Community health centers deliver that every day, often against the odds, saving lives while also saving money by helping prevent costly hospital visits.
Now is the time to invest in the health centers that form the backbone of New York’s primary care system. As state budget negotiations wind down, we are counting on New York’s leaders to do the right thing: invest $100 million in Community Health Centers and the people they serve. They deserve nothing less.
Rose Duhan is President and CEO, Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS)
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