Federal Legislative Issues
NACHC Statement on President Obama's 2012 State of the Union Address
CMS Announces Accountable Care Organization Rule
Affordable Care Act
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act. It is the intent of the bill to enact comprehensive health insurance reforms that will hold insurance companies more accountable. The Administration and Congress are proposing the bill will reduce health care costs, guarantee more health care choices and enhance the quality of health care for all Americans.
The Act will not be implemented all at once. Portions of the law have already taken effect. Other changes will be implemented through 2014 and beyond.
To learn more about the Affordable Care Act see the following link. http://www.healthcare.gov/law/introduction/index.html
Community Health Centers Under Health Care Reform
Federally-Qualified Health Centers comprise the largest national network of primary health care providers. Most health center patients are low income, uninsured or publicly insured. The health care reform package includes $11 billion in dedicated funding for the community health center program over five years. $9.5 billion of these resources will fund new health centers for communities in need and expand capacity at existing community health centers. It is possible that by 2015, community health centers will double their current capacity to 40 million patients.
The remaining $1.5 billion in capital funding will assist community health centers to modernize and refurbish older locations and build new facilities to provide quality primary care to millions more patients.