Community Health Centers – Wisconsin

Reform leads to bigger role for community health centers, By Guy Boulton, June 2, 2010, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Community health centers more than doubled in size in the past decade. Now they’ve been given the task of doubling in size yet again. The health centers, often located in low-income urban neighborhoods and rural areas, are an overlooked component of the health care system. But they provide care to nearly 244,000 people statewide, up from 89,392 in 1999. That’s roughly 80,000 people in Milwaukee, or about one in seven residents. They also have been given a crucial role – and with it, a huge increase in funding – to help meet the expected rise in demand that will accompany health care reform. Reform legislation allocated an additional $11 billion for the community health centers over the next five years. To put that in perspective, the federal government now spends $2.2 billion a year on direct support for the centers…”