On July 25, the House approved, by voice vote, a resolution (H. Res. 289) supporting the goals and ideals of National Health Center Week. The Senate approved a similar resolution (S. Res. 31) designating the week of August 7, 2005, as “National Health Center Week” on July 19 (see The Source, 7/22/05).
Explaining that the United States spends nearly $100 billion to treat conditions that could have been prevented with early diagnosis, resolution sponsor Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) said that community health centers “are one of the keys to such earlier diagnosis and crucial to lowering the overall cost of health care [for] the uninsured throughout the country. Therefore, I am pleased with the significant increase in the fiscal year 2006 budget that our community health centers will receive so that they can continue to serve their patients and expand their services.” He added, “As we continue to discuss health care, and as we continue hopefully to move towards enactment of a national health plan that covers everyone without regard to their ability to pay, we can take great pride in some of our accomplishments in health care. One of the most important and effective accomplishments since the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid has been the development of community health centers.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) agreed, stating that the resolution “honors our nation’s community health centers and their invaluable contributions to thousands of Americans, perhaps millions of Americans, in need. Health centers provide primary and preventative medical, dental, and pharmaceutical services; and their work acts as a vital safety net in the health care delivery system.”
