By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
ANDERSON, Ind. — The local health clinic is celebrating the health care bill signed by President Barack Obama.
Anthony Malone of the Madison County Community Health Center said the organization’s two county clinics will immediately benefit from funding provisions in the plan.
According to the Indiana Primary Health Care Association, health care reform will provide $1 billion in funding to community health centers in 2011 and $9.5 billion over the next five years.
“The legislation is the right medicine for our country,” the association said in a written statement.
Malone runs the county’s two health clinics in Anderson and Elwood, and said the funding will promote the nation’s best-kept secret — community health clinics.
With sliding scale fees based on income, the clinics provide primary care to an underserved population.
Along with providing affordable health care, the clinics offer three-month prescriptions for most drugs for just $5, he said.
Elwood’s recently renovated clinic now provides dental care and now serves as the town’s only dental provider that accepts Medicaid.
Malone said the health care bill will provide access to health care for millions who otherwise would have gone without care.
“You can go all through this community and in every (community) in America, you will find a significant number of people that do not go to the doctor and maintain regular checkups or buy medicines because they can’t afford it,” he said.
For years, community health clinics have attempted to meet the needs of those individuals, he said, but clinics cannot provide complete care.
“We can’t serve all the patients and meet all the patient needs. We are not a hospital. We only do primary care. If you have critical or acute care, you need to be hospitalized,” he said.
The new health care bill will ensure that all patients, regardless of income level, are given care, he said.
Community Hospital’s CEO Bill VanNess said the bill will lead to overcrowding in hospitals, making it too difficult for them to keep doors open, but Malone believes that’s no reason to keep people from getting care.
“The market will meet the demand. We live in a capitalistic system and I think America should be the most moral country and America should lead the way,” Malone said.
Although the health care bill was polarizing for many, both Republicans and Democrats seemed to agree to increases in health clinic funding, Malone said.
The need for primary care, he said, is also being addressed by the bill. “There’s a shortage of primary care physicians across this country.”
The new reform will increase funding for loan forgiveness programs aimed at recruiting health care workers, including primary care physicians.
In exchange for working at health clinics and hospitals in underserved communities, physicians and nurses will receive up to $50,000 in forgiveness grants for college loans.
The incentive package is provided through the National Health Service Corps.
The bill provides $290 million in 2011 and $1.5 billion over five years in guaranteed funding for the program.
Mary Ann Hurrle of the Indiana State Department of Health said 45 of the state’s 92 counties are underserved or have shortages in health care professionals.
The Student Loan Repayment Program, or SLRP, aims to fill those vacancies, providing better access to care in areas deemed to be Health Professional Shortage Areas, or HPSAs.
Hurrle said the state currently has 35 areas designated primary care HPSAs, including 15 urban and 20 rural areas.
“It is projected that 10 health professionals serving in rural and urban areas will benefit from two-year loan repayment contracts for amounts between $20,000 to $40,000. Indiana is requesting $150,000 in federal money and will match it with $150,000 of state funds. The state will also provide an in-kind contribution of program administrative costs,” Hurrle explained.
Hurrle said the state plans to recruit three primary care doctors or psychiatrists, two dentists and five other health professionals to fill the voids in shortage areas.
The student loan repayment program is essential to Indiana’s health care system, she said.
“A study, in 2006, by the Indiana University School or Medicine, projects Indiana will be facing a physician shortage of 2,000 doctors by 2015. Even if Indiana, by some chance, would have enough primary care physicians, selling them on inner city or rural Indiana is still difficult,” she said.
As lawmakers who passed the bill face vandalism, death threats and harassment from those opposed to the bill, Malone said people should try to imagine a world without access to health care.
“To every detractor, if they didn’t have health care and they were confronted with a life-or-death situation, they would quickly say ‘give me life and give me insurance.’”
Contact Brandi Watters, 640-4847, brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com
