President Biden has released his proposed budget for Federal Fiscal Year 2022. The full budget and fact sheet are available. While the President’s budget is largely symbolic, it is reflective of the administration’s priorities. Highlights include:
Appropriations
- Net year-over-year decrease of $44.7 million total appropriations for CHCs
- $94.7 million appropriation decrease in mandatory funding
- $50 million appropriation increase in discretionary funding
Specific mentions of Community Health Centers
- Touts the American Rescue Plan’s investment in Community Health Centers
- States that the Administration intends to work with Congress to double the Federal investment in CHCs in an effort to reduce health disparities by expanding access to care
Health Care Coverage Priorities
- Public option available through the Marketplace
- Increased subsidies for Marketplace plans
- 60+ eligibility for Medicare (same benefits, but different funding source from Medicare Trust fund)
- Medicaid-like coverage option for non-expansion states
- Financial incentives to ensure states maintain existing expansions
- Supports reforms to lower cost of prescription drugs in Medicare
- Supports improving access to dental, vision, and hearing coverage in Medicare
- Supports reforms to make Medicaid enrollment and retention easier
Broadband Priorities
- Notes American Jobs Plan would increase broadband access for all American households
- Increased year-over-year funding for the Rural eConnectivity Program by $65M to increase access to rural broadband
Other
- $8.7B in discretionary funding for the CDC to increase capacity to respond to future public health crises
- $1.6B for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant
- $200M to reduce maternal mortality
- $6.5B to launch the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to expand the Federal R&D footprint
- $10.7B to combat the opioid epidemic
- $670M to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic