Federal funding for community health centers is expiring, and more in this week’s roundup

AFFORDABILITY

After past legislative failures, Conn. lawmakers consider new ways to lower health costs
Nicole Leonard, WNPR, November 20
Connecticut has one of the highest per person health care spending amounts in the nation, estimated at an average of $9,859 a year among those with Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance. That’s why both Democratic and Republican lawmakers met with health policy experts in Hartford this month to look at three possible solutions to making health care more affordable for people in Connecticut.

Laying off employees of Charter Oak Health Center in Hartford isn’t something CEO Nichelle Mullins wants to do just before the holidays. But if federal funding for the center in Hartford stops coming, she said she may have to. Charter Oak is one of more than a dozen federally funded community health centers in Connecticut that serve about 390,000 patients. Centers offer primary and specialty health care, regardless of insurance status, and they often treat Connecticut’s most vulnerable populations. But the federal funds that support these kinds of centers nationwide are set to expire if Congress doesn’t appropriate more money for the programs. Mullins said funding at Charter Oak will run out by Dec. 31.

MENTAL HEALTH

Eleven years after Congress passed a law mandating that insurers provide equal access for mental and physical health care, Americans are actually finding it harder to obtain affordable treatment for mental illness and substance abuse issues. A recent report found that patients were dramatically more likely to resort to out-of-network providers for mental health and substance abuse treatment than for other conditions.