Source: American Academy of Family Physicians Washington, DC, Office
On December 21, 2017, Congress passed a short-term spending bill funding the government through Friday, January 19.
In addition to funding federal government operations for another month, the bill funds critical health programs. The new law provides $550 million for Community Health Centers (CHCs), $65 million for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), and an additional $15 million for the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education (THCGME) program for the first half of fiscal year (FY) 2018 (October 1, 2017, through Saturday, March 31, 2018).
The bill also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by providing $2.85 billion for the first two quarters of FY2018 and extends a current provision for Q1 and Q2 of FY2018 that gives the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services more flexibility over the use of Redistribution Funds provided to states. However, it cuts $750 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund to pay for these key public health programs. In a December 20, 2017, letter, the American Academy of Family Physicians urged Congress to provide long-term funding for CHIP and other key public health programs.