BBB Act Reducing CHC Investment from $10bil to $1bil
The initial House Committee on Energy & Commerce’s Print of the Build Back Better (BBB) Act included a $10 billion dollar investment in CHCs and the House Rules Committee’s Print of the BBB Act decreased this investment to $1 billion dollars. We need your help now in reaching out to your members to thank them for including FQHCs and FQHC Look-Alikes in the Build Back Better Act, sharing the value of this investment, and asking them to advocate for the original $10 billion dollar investment in CHCs. Since this will be a Democrat only package, prioritizing outreach to your Democratic Leadership will be most impactful. Included below is sample language to include in your correspondence.
Good afternoon (Representative or Staffer Name),
I hope this message finds you well! I know it’s been an incredibly busy past few weeks for you.
I’m reaching out from the (Health Center Name). (Health Center Name) is located in (City) and provides comprehensive and integrated primary medical, dental, and mental health and substance use treatment services to underserved residents in (State). (Health Center Name) serves over (Number of Patients) residents throughout (City), with the majority of our patients living in poverty and on Medicaid.
(Health Center Name) is an FQHC Look Alike, and we’ve been encouraged and grateful throughout the negotiations on the Build Back Better package that funding was included to help support the work of Community Health Centers, both FQHCs and FQHC LALs like us. Unfortunately however, in the Rules Committee’s Print, the funding was scaled back very significantly – from $10 billion to $1 billion.
We understand that there are larger dynamics at play in moving this bill across the finish line, and appreciate the challenge you all have ahead of you. That being said, the funding for CHCs would be a tremendous help to us at (Health Center Name) and to the community we serve in your district.
If (Representative/Senator Name) would consider weighing in on this with House leadership, we would be very grateful. We know there’s likely to be a Manager’s Amendment with final changes and would love the funding to be increased if it’s at all possible.
Thanks so much,
(Name)
Useful Links for your advocacy efforts:
