Congressman Clyburn Celebrates Two Year Anniversary of Affordable Care Act
March 23, 2012
COLUMBIA, SC – March 23, 2012 – Two years after the enactment of theAffordable Care Act, South Carolina is benefitting from the new law andthe efforts of Sixth District Congressman James E. Clyburn.
CongressmanClyburn dubbed the legislation the “Civil Rights Act of the 21stCentury,” and was the leading proponent in the House to include fundingfor community health centers in the health care reform law. TheAffordable Care Act includes a provision Congressman Clyburn introducedin 2009 to expand community health centers. The law provides $11billion to expand these centers, which provide quality, affordablehealth care to the medically underserved.
“Access to health carehas been an ongoing challenge for low-income, isolated, and vulnerablepopulations, and I believed health care reform would not be successfulif we didn’t include a significant investment in improving their healthcare delivery,” Congressman Clyburn said.
“Community healthcenters provide the first line of access to these populations, and I ampleased to see the federal support expanding their services.” SouthCarolina community health centers were the recipients of more than $20million in Affordable Care Act funding.
Here is a list of the recipients:
Beaufort-Jasper Comprehensive Health Services Inc. – Ridgeland, SC
$2,803,230
Black River Healthcare, Inc. – Manning, SC
$1,234,251
Caresouth Carolina, Inc. – Hartsville, SC
$2,088,083
Carolina Health Centers – Greenwood, SC
$1,046,591
Community Medicine Foundation – Rock Hill, SC
$736,137
Eau Claire Cooperative Health Center, Inc. – Columbia, SC
$833,088
Family Health Center – Orangeburg, SC
$1,559,607
Franklin C. Gerrer Family Health Center – Charleston, SC
$1,572,613
Health Care Partners of South Carolina, Inc. – Conway, SC
$615,477
HOPEHEALTH, Inc. – Florence, SC
$310,409
Little River Medical Center, Inc. – Little River, SC
$1,624,335
Low Country Health Care System, Inc. – Fairfax, SC
$641,565
New Horizon Family Health Services, Inc. – Greenville, SC
$1,363,682
Regenesis Organization Community Health Center – Spartanburg, SC
$732,965
Richland Community Health Care Association – Columbia, SC
$897,796
Rural Health Services, Inc. – Clearwater, SC
$370,811
Sandhills Medical Foundation, Inc. – Jefferson, SC
$438,281
South Carolina Primary Health Care Association – Columbia, SC
$302,594
St. James-Santee Family Health Center, Inc. – McClellanville, SC
$546,938
Sumter Family Health Center – Sumter, SC
$323,167
TOTAL – $20,041,620.00
These funds are being used to create new health center sites, toincrease the number of patients served, to expand preventive and primaryhealth care services, and support major construction and renovationsprojects.
In addition to the funding for community health centers, the AffordableCare Act is improving health care delivery for many South Carolinians. Here are the benefits in the Palmetto State by-the-numbers:
- 30,376 young people under the age of 26 have been able to remain on their parents’ health insurance;
- 54,683 seniors have received $250 rebates to help pay forprescription drugs when they hit the donut hole, and 53,081 received a50-percent discount to cover brand-name prescriptions in the donut hole;
- 602,760 people with Medicare are receiving free preventive healthservices like annual wellness visits or colonoscopies and mammograms;
- 1,037,000 South Carolinians are receiving greater value for theirpremium dollar due to a provision that requires insurance companies tospend at least 80-percent of premium dollars on health care and qualityimprovements and not overhead;
- 1,458,000 residents, including 566,000 women and 397,000 children,are free from worrying about lifetime limits on health insurancecoverage since the law removed these limits on health benefits; and
- 948 people who were previously uninsurable due to pre-existingconditions are now insured through a new Pre-Existing ConditionInsurance Plan created by the new health reform law.
“The Affordable Care Act is making a difference by providinghardworking families in South Carolina the security they deserve,”Congressman Clyburn continued. “This law has put families in charge oftheir health care not the insurance companies, and we will see even morebenefits from the Affordable Care Act when it is fully implemented in2014.”
