A Great, Little Discussed (at least by the media) Piece of the ACA:

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is the huge boost in funding for Community Health Centers.

Federally Qualified Health Centers, also known as Community Health Centers are at the forefront of providing care for millions, regardless of their ability to pay and they're at the forefront of signing people up for the ACA.

The ACA included $11 billion additional for ACAs. As more and more people become covered through the ACA, the CHCs will provide care.

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"Community health centers are central players" in ACA implementation, says Sara Rosenbaum, professor of health policy at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. "They do enrollment in the toughest communities, where the people are poorest and least able to navigate the enrollment system on their own." They also have extensive experience in treating people in those communities, so they are a natural source of care for the newly insured, Rosenbaum says.

Community health centers aren't new. They're little known, but they enjoy bipartisan support. The program was created by Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s and expanded in the early 1990s (when they became eligible to accept Medicare and Medicaid). The program doubled in size in the early 2000s under President George W. Bush, who openly promoted their use.

Community health centers are sustained by nearly $3 billion a year in federal funding -- a drop in the bucket compared with the $2.7 trillion total annual spending on health care in the United States. What do we get for that money? Today, approximately 1,200 health centers deliver care through more than 9,000 service delivery sites nationwide, treating more than 21 million Americans a year.

The ACA contains a major boost for health centers. It created a five-year, $11 billion trust fund called the Community Health Center Fund for the operation, expansion, and construction of health centers. The fund will allow centers to hire approximately 3,000 application counselors, the so-called "navigators" who are tasked with helping patients enroll in health plans under ACA, nationwide. It will also help establish more than 300 new health center sites and support the construction and renovation of nearly 600 clinics, according to Jim Macrae, associate administrator for primary health care at the Health Resources and Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees the program.

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http://health.usnews.com/health-news/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2013/10/28/community-health-centers-on-the-front-lines-of-obamacare

We have Bernie to thank for the huge boost in funding for CHCs.

Bernie Sanders actually did start the health care fight by proposing a single-payer plan. He stuck to it for a long time, and only agreed to support the final bill after $10 billion in additional funding for non-profit, community health centers was included. Because of his shrewdness, these community health centers now provide affordable primary care to tens of millions more low-income Americans than they did before the Affordable Care Act.

http://fuckyeahberniesanders.tumblr.com/

The first round of funds for CHC's have been awarded- totalling $726 million. Alas, fucking asshole Republicans have blocked expansion and funds in some of the neediest states. Those states that have rejected Medicaid expansion will forfeit $550 million dollars that would have funded both existing and new CHC's.

There are over 1,000 CHCs and they provide care to over 20 million Americans.

http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/neediest-health-centers-to-get-least-aca-funding-85899512922

CHCs provide primary care, but that means preventive care. They also provide dental care and psychological and psychiatric care.

Here's a look at one such Health Center and the services they provide, in Vermont:

http://www.chcb.org/services-programs

Vermont has 8 CHCs and just received funding through the ACA to open 3 more. Currently, VT CHCs provide primary care for 130,000 Vermonters. Many of those served do have health care insurance.

Through the ACA, 233 new CHCs will open across the countrym

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1. Thank your Senator for that

The FQHC expansion was brilliant, and the main reason I think the law ended up being worth it.

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2. kick for information