{"id":1051193,"date":"2025-02-06T17:25:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-06T22:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1051193"},"modified":"2025-02-06T17:25:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T22:25:38","slug":"attn-rfk-jr-will-you-stand-by-as-trump-shuts-down-community-health-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/attn-rfk-jr-will-you-stand-by-as-trump-shuts-down-community-health-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"ATTN RFK JR.: Will You Stand By as Trump Shuts Down Community Health Centers?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If confirmed, Donald Trump\u2019s HHS pick RFK Jr. would oversee the very grants that keep community health centers afloat \u2013 or at least they did until Trump\u2019s Project 2025 minions froze them. After his disastrous confirmation hearings that left Americans with more questions than answers, RFK Jr. now has another question to respond to: Will RFK Jr. back Trump\u2019s health care shutdown?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s <\/strong>Project 2025<\/strong><\/a> federal funding freeze continues to have disastrous consequences for Americans across the country, shutting down community health centers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ali Rogin, PBS NewsHour<\/a>: \u201cFederally-funded community health centers in at least 5 states are or were unable to draw down their grant funding<\/strong>. So far, we know of VA, VT, MT, ME and MN.<\/strong> We also know that ME has since been able to access their grant funds.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VPM News<\/a>: \u201cHalf of Virginia\u2019s community health centers have been cut off from federal grant money, forcing some to stop providing certain services and others to close branches.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe commonwealth has 31 Federally Qualified Health Centers with over 200 locations<\/strong> \u2014 a majority of which serve rural areas with limited access to medical care.<\/strong> Annually, about 400,000 Virginians rely on the care<\/strong> provided by these nonprofit, community-based centers, according to the Virginia Community Healthcare Association. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince Jan. 28, 16 of the state\u2019s FQHCs have been unable to access federal funding<\/strong> that allows them to pay employees, according to Joe Stevens, a VCHA spokesperson. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDespite the delayed spending freeze, multiple community health centers across Virginia have been unable to access their federal grants <\/strong>\u2014 blocking one of their three primary funding sources, along with Medicaid reimbursements and private insurance policy revenue. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe rural parts of the commonwealth will be affected more<\/strong> than some of the urban areas.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

East Oregonian<\/a>: \u201cNearly 471,800 Oregonians receive care from a federally qualified health center<\/strong>, according to data compiled by the Oregon Primary Care Association \u2014 that\u2019s about one in 10 people in the state.<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[I]f federal grants to federally qualified health centers stop, 30 FQHCs in Oregon would be affected. <\/strong>The organizations rely on federal funding for payroll, rent and other costs to provide care. Some centers have enough cash on hand to cover a few months; others could only keep the doors open for 30 days.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central Oregon Daily News<\/a>: \u201cThe La Pine Community Health Center (LCHC), which largely serves a rural, high-risk population, announced staffing cuts Wednesday, citing the recent federal funding freeze.<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe health center said the \u2018difficult\u2019 decision to reduce its workforce is an \u2018effort to protect its ability to provide care <\/strong>to the residents of La Pine and surrounding communities as it awaits further direction\u2019 from Health Resources and Services Administration.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFK Jr. already showed he doesn\u2019t understand the basics of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act \u2013 which comes as no surprise given he doesn\u2019t realize that the vast majority of Americans support these critical programs to access health care. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CNBC News<\/a>: \u201cRFK Jr. stumbles over basics of Medicare, Medicaid<\/strong> during Senate confirmation hearings \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRobert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/strong>, President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, appeared to be unfamiliar with fundamental elements of the Medicare and Medicaid programs<\/strong> Thursday during his second Senate confirmation hearing.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n<\/a>: \u201cMr. Kennedy, do you know how many babies born in this country are covered through Medicaid?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFK Jr.: *prolonged silence*<\/strong> \u201cI would guess- I don’t know the answer.<\/strong> I would guess about 30 million.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RFK Jr.<\/a>: \u201cAmericans don\u2019t, by and large, don\u2019t like the Affordable Care Act. \u2026 They don\u2019t like Medicaid.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KFF<\/a>: \u201cSimilarly, Medicaid, the federal-state government health insurance program for certain low-income individuals and long-term care program, is also very popular<\/strong> with three-fourths of adults (77%) holding favorable views, including six in ten Republicans (63%), and at least eight in ten independents (81%) and Democrats (87%). Medicaid is also popular among those enrolled in the program with 84% saying they view the program favorably.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KFF<\/a>: \u201cMajorities [Democrats 88%, Republicans 62%, and independents 73%] Across Partisans Say It Is Very Important [the Affordable Care Act\u2019s] Pre-Existing Condition Protections Stay In Place\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If confirmed, Donald Trump\u2019s HHS pick RFK Jr. would oversee the very grants that keep community health centers afloat \u2013 or at least they did until Trump\u2019s Project 2025 minions froze them. After his disastrous confirmation hearings that left Americans with more questions than answers, RFK Jr. now has another question to respond to: Will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":292,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1051193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nATTN RFK JR.: Will You Stand By as Trump Shuts Down Community Health Centers?\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/attn-rfk-jr-will-you-stand-by-as-trump-shuts-down-community-health-centers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T22:25:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T22:25:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Black-Logo-White-Fill-For-Email.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adrianna Tomasello\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/attn-rfk-jr-will-you-stand-by-as-trump-shuts-down-community-health-centers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/attn-rfk-jr-will-you-stand-by-as-trump-shuts-down-community-health-centers\/\",\"name\":\"ATTN RFK JR.: Will You Stand By as Trump Shuts Down Community Health Centers?\u00a0 - 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