Cornerstone Care Community,

 

I am asking you to become informed and engaged about the potential effects on Cornerstone Care of impending policies of our federal government.  One of the quickest ways to do that is to join the Campaign for America’s Health Centers at saveourchcs.org.   Our success depends on you contacting your congressional representatives as well as encouraging our patients and community friends to also become informed and active.  

 

We will be participating in grassroots efforts to let our legislators and policymakers know about the importance of preserving community health centers.  Sarah DeCarlo, Manager of our Psychiatry and Counseling Department,  has graciously agreed to serve in the capacity of our Grassroots Campaign Coordinator.  Please help her to develop effective strategies to build support for our Campaign to Save America’s Health Centers.  We need to do this in honest and respectful ways. 

 

With Congress poised to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (also known as ”Obama Care”), Community Health Centers are vulnerable to detrimental impact, even if unintended.  

 

Opinions on the ACA vary widely.  We know lots of people like aspects of the ACA and lots of people don’t like aspects of the ACA.

 

Regardless of your opinion, I hope that we agree on the importance of keeping Community Health Centers strong.  Community Health Centers are a critical component of the nation’s healthcare safety net.  And because our mission is to ensure access to affordable, quality healthcare for all, I hope we agree that preserving access to healthcare is an important principal for which to stand up. 

 

Because of certain policies and funding linked to the ACA, Community Health Centers could, among other negative impacts:

 

• potentially lose 70% of our grant support (for Cornerstone Care that means $2.4 million) at the end of September

• be harmed by changes to Medicaid

• lose our Teaching Health Center

• lose capacity to care for patients and be overwhelmed by demand for services

• be affected by changes in the National Health Service Corps and loan repayment programs

 

I encourage you also to go the respective websites of the National Association of Community Health Centers (nachc.org) and the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers (pachc.org) to discover many facts and efforts to keep health centers strong.  

 

Let’s stand up together for the sake of our mission!

 

Thank you!