Mari Freiberg
By MARI FREIBERG
This week, Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers’ advocates travel to Washington D.C. alongside a national network of more than 1,400 fellow community health centers.
Community health centers provide high-quality, community-driven, comprehensive healthcare. We develop relationships with our patients and their families, and every day we work with them to achieve their goals.
Over the past several years, Scenic Bluffs has made progress on one of our main goals: making sure everyone in our community has access to healthcare through health insurance. While we know that insurance alone doesn’t equal access, we do know it helps. In the last three years, we have seen a 12 percent reduction in the number of uninsured patients. We remain committed to seeing patients who don’t have insurance as well, and we provide equal, excellent care to anyone who comes through our doors. We have provided thousands of people in Monroe, Vernon, Crawford and La Crosse counties with a healthcare home.
On the heels of these gains, our patients and Scenic Bluffs face a great deal of uncertainty. While the Affordable Care Act remains intact, there are still threats to affordable coverage and the future of Medicaid. Almost 55 percent of Scenic Bluffs’ revenue comes from Medicaid. The federal grants that help community health centers treat uninsured patients also are set to expire in September of this year. The long-term strength and sustainability of these two programs are critical to our success.
We’ve traveled to Washington to ask our lawmakers to support Community Health Centers so that we can continue do what we do best: provide compassionate, patient-centered, community-based care. We pride ourselves on serving everyone in our community whether they have private insurance, Medicaid, or pay out-of-pocket. If you support the work of Scenic Bluffs, we ask you to contact Congressman Kind at (202) 225-5506 to thank him for his support of Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers and to share why you value Scenic Bluffs as part of your community.
Freiberg is the chief executive officer at Scenic Bluffs Community Health Centers in Norwalk and Cashton.
