Community health centers provide essential primary and preventive care services in under-resourced, low-income communities and play an increasingly important role in caring for the poorest Medicare beneficiaries, forty percent of whom also rely heavily on Medicaid. This number is growing: in 2023, health centers served 500,000 more Medicare patients, 220,000 of whom were dually eligible for Medicaid, than in 2019.
With Congress readying to consider dramatic cuts to Medicaid approaching $900 billion over a decade, it is clear that community health center patients - who are disproportionately poor - are at grave risk. Medicaid reductions of this magnitude will affect all populations and services, including Medicare patients who rely on Medicaid to cover Medicare premiums, deductibles and co-pays, and to provide access to crucial care that Medicare does not cover, such as vision, dental, and in-home and community long term care. Cuts to Medicaid will harm Medicare patients, including older people and those with disabilities.
Our latest blog, Three Key Things to Know About How Medicaid Cuts Will Impact Community Health Center Medicare Patients, looks at how federal Medicaid cuts could impact state Medicaid programs and FQHC payment rates, as well as the implications of Medicaid work requirements for working-age disabled Medicare recipients.