Health Policy Commons^™

Economic Stress And The Safety Net: A Health Center Update, Sara J. Rosenbaum, Peter Shin, Julie S. Darnell

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Federally funded health centers provided care to 11.3 million patients in 2002, the vast majority of whom were either uninsured (39%) or covered by Medicaid (34%). This paper provides new information on the demographic profile of health center patients and the revenue sources available for financing their care, including recent increases in federal discretionary funding. It examines the impact of the recent economic downturn on health centers in selected communities, exploring the effect of elevated unemployment levels among lower wage workers, declining private health insurance coverage, and widespread state cutbacks in Medicaid – the single most important source of health …