Last Friday, Family Care Health Centers held a legislative Open House and Tour of its newest facility, located at 401 Holly Hills Avenue. The event gave Missouri’s lawmakers the opportunity to see the important role that facilities such as the center play in providing healthcare to community members that are either underinsured or uninsured.
With the proposed cuts to Missouri’s Medicaid program, the facility administrators felt that it was essential for Missouri’s lawmakers to see first-hand a facility that could be drastically affected by the new state budget. Eighty-one percent of the health center’s patients receive coverage through the Medicaid managed care and the CHIPS insurance programs.
“It’s important that (legislators) are more knowledgeable about the network of federally qualified health centers, not just in St. Louis, but also the 18 others across the state,” said Robert K. Massie, CEO of the center.
“We are serving Medicaid and Medicare, and more importantly we are serving people that don’t have insurance. We serve our clients irregardless of their ability to pay.”
“The healthcare issue is very crucial, not only in the state but in the country,” said state Senator Maida Coleman.
“This organization is meeting the needs of the community. I am here because I want to be supportive and learn more about the responsibility that they have.”
Family Care Health Centers is a multi-site nonprofit organization located in St. Louis city, providing affordable and accessible medical services to anyone who needs them. Services, which are offered at two Federally Qualified Health Centers, include comprehensive primary heathcare as well as dental, optometry, mental health and nutrition services. The second center is located in the Forest Park Southeast community.
In 2004, the two centers treated over 15,000 patients, with combined visits of 73,216. The center’s full-time pharmacy filled nearly 30,000 prescriptions last year and dispensed over $556,000 in free patient assistance in medications.
Thomas Villa, state representative for the 108th District in which the Carondelet Center is located, explained why government officials should take the time to visit facilities such as Family Care Health Centers.
“What we do with Medicaid cuts, what amount of federal funding we qualify for or don’t quality for, really sets the tone for our $19 billion state budget,” Villa said.
“What is refreshing about this turnout this morning is that it actually lets my legislative colleagues see the tremendous amount of good that Medicaid and Medicaid reimbursement does in terms of preventive healthcare. Without this, this particular area would be under served. They are getting a hands-on, person-to-person view of the benefits that the Medicaid program brings to the community.”
Coleman stressed that the poor will suffer if $626 million in proposed cuts to Missouri’s Medicaid budget are approved with the budget.
“We need to find a way to put more money into this area of the budget, because if we don’t meet the health needs now, they are only going to be more expensive later when people end up in emergency rooms,” Coleman said.
“We need to meet the medical needs of people in their infancy instead of waiting until they are off the charts. The Democrats intend to fight the Medicaid cuts in the budget and the whole war on Medicaid that this administration seems to have.”
