#CostsOfRepeal: Congressman Walden Would End $109 Million Local Investment in Oregon Community Health Centers

“The mounting price tag for Congressman Walden’s reckless obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act is devastating...” - Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

news10.net

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Congressman Greg Walden’s plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act would end new significant local investments in community health centers, including $109 million in Oregon instead sending us back to an old, broken system that gave insurance companies free rein and left millions of Americans to get their only care in emergency rooms, driving up costs for everyone.

Walden

In addition to the jobs-creating investments in Oregon’s local health care providers, Community Health Centers have served 311,000 Oregonian in 2012. By investing in local health facilities, the Affordable Care Act has helped to created more than 35,000 jobs in the past four years but Congressman Walden would end this $109 million investment in local health centers in Oregon, and instead take us back to a system where millions of Americans relied on emergency rooms for primary care and drove up costs across the board.

“The mounting price tag for Congressman Walden’s reckless obsession with repealing the Affordable Care Act is devastating, especially since he would end $109 million in job-creating investments in Oregon’s economy,” said Emily Bittner of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Not only that, these Community Health Centers helped keep 311,000 patients in Oregon out of emergency rooms for their primary care, and reduced costs across the board. But Congressman Walden’s repeal plan would take us back to that old, broken system that drove hardworking Americans into bankruptcy and gave insurance companies free rein over our care.”

BACKGROUND:

HHS: Community Health Centers Expanded to Create 35,000 New Jobs and Add 4 Million New Patients Since 2009. “Today, approximately 1,200 health centers operate more than 9,000 service delivery sites that provide care to over 21 million patients in every State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin.  Since the beginning of 2009, health centers have added 4 million patients and more than 35,000 new full-time positions.” [HHS.gov, 11/07/13]