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Article: How secure is the safety net? The future of the nation's community health care centers and public hospitals is grave.(effects of Medicaid and uninsured patients, K-12 education)(Cover Story)
- Article from:
- State Legislatures
- Article date:
- March 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 National Conference of State Legislatures. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The community health center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, serves a largely rural clientele with up to 9,000 patients a year. More than half are on Medicaid or uninsured. Almost a third are at or below the poverty level.
In the scope of its services and demographic base, it is like almost all of the more than 1,000 operating community health centers in the United States--unique to its own service area.
But in an era of historic economic challenges affecting both the nation's community health centers, public hospitals and other safety net providers, the Council Bluffs Community Health Center is hardly singular: it has had to lay off staff, close down a ...