Bringing Healthcare To Low-Income Counties

Over the years, the Health Center program, which assists low-income uninsured patients, has gained tremendous support from members of both sides of the aisle in Congress and the President – a claim that can be made about very few federal programs. As a nation, we have a long way to go before we locate a health center in every low-income county in this country. To ensure that these goals are met, it was crucial that we pass this bill to reauthorize the health center program, whose current authorization expires this year. Mr. Deal, Mr. Bilirakis and I have put together a compromise bill that would reauthorize the program through 2011, keeping intact the core elements of the program that have been critical to its success.