Five weeks into the lengthiest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, the healthcare system is mostly operating as usual but safety-net providers and others are feeling the squeeze, writes Bridget Early at Modern Healthcare.
Community health centers have been able to draw down residual funding left over from a previous law, but nobody knows when those dollars will run out, said Amanda Pears Kelly, CEO of the trade group Advocates for Community Health.
“I feel like we’re in this horrible Jenga game where blocks just keep getting pulled from the bottom and stacked on top, because the weight isn’t going away. They’re just taking it from the foundation and putting it somewhere else with the expectation that [health centers] keep going,” Pears Kelly said. “But it’s going to fall over at some point and collapse.”