Community health centers have developed a constituency that cuts across political divides. Since Cambridge Management Group works with health centers, that’s good news to us as well as to their millions of patients. Even many conservative Republicans who strenuously oppose the Affordable Care Act laud the Obama administration to help build more of them, as can be seen by recent congressional votes.
And these centers are not just for the poor: Many middle-class people use them because of the range of their services and convenient hours and locations.
Just one example: Republican Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri visited a St. Louis community health center late last week to indicate his support for such clinics despite his overall opposition to the Affordable Care Act.
He told St. Louis Public Radio:
“I think [health centers] are a great example of how you meet the needs of a community that otherwise would not have their needs met nearly as effectively,” said Senator Blunt, who chairs the Senate committee that decides how to parcel out the two-year mandatory funding set aside by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act.
