Just a few more reasons to be praying for the Supreme Court’s decision – not only are billions in dollars at stake, but thousands, millions, of Americans’ health is as well.
PEEKSKILL, N.Y. — In this small city about an hour from Manhattan, pregnant teenagers, laid-off professionals and day laborers without insurance receive care at a community health center that has been part of the social fabric here for nearly four decades.
Because of the sweeping federal health care law passed two years ago, the center, part of the Hudson River HealthCare network, received a $4.5 million grant last month to expand. It plans to add six more medical and seven more dental exam rooms, allowing it to see as many as 5,000 additional patients, many of whom are without insurance, on Medicaid or have limited coverage. An additional 730 community centers or so like it are to be renovated or built across the country in the next two years for patients like that.
Unless the Supreme Court says otherwise.
The Affordable Care Act allocates money for such diverse efforts as creating insurance programs for people who have pre-existing medical conditions and cannot find private coverage, offsetting employers’ costs for early-retiree health plans, bumping up the pay for some primary care doctors and a broad array of public health initiatives, like funds for state vaccination programs.
Read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/health/billions-of-dollars-in-play-over-health-care-law.html?_r=3&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120622
