TO THE EDITOR:
Sitting around and watching is perfectly okay for some activities — like football. But other activities demand participation — like democracy. Our elected representatives need to hear from us occasionally when a critical issue arises.
Such is the case with a budget proposal moving through the U.S. Congress. The spending plan, which was released two weeks ago by the House Committee on Appropriations, cuts $1.2 billion in funding for expansion of community health centers. Anybody who wants North Carolina to retain a healthy medical system should be concerned about these potential cuts.
These cuts would come on top of a sharp reduction in expansion funds earlier this year. As a result, community health centers are falling behind in their efforts to keep up with demand.
Surely we need to reduce spending, but community health centers are not wasteful. Consider that last year Piedmont Health Services— which operates six centers in Orange, Chatham, Caswell and Alamance counties—provided care for 23,000 uninsured patients.
Without these centers, whose mission is to provide, high-quality, affordable care, a very high percentage of these patients would have been forced to seek care at hospital emergency rooms.
Today, we are encouraging citizens to call their representatives in Congress and ask that they not cut desperately needed funds for community health centers.
Visit www.saveourCHCs.org for more information. We will all feel the pain of these cuts.
Carl Taylor
Director of Pharmacy Services
Piedmont Health Services
