Hub & Spoke: In Plain Language, Today's Supreme Court Decision

How does the Court's decision to uphold Healthcare Reform affect community clinics?

Awesome news today! As you've probably heard, the US Supreme Court supported and upheld President Obama’s Healthcare Reform law. What does this mean for community clinics and our patients? In plain language, here are the important points:

Lots more people are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage

The Supreme Court said that if states want to grow their Medi-Cal programs to cover more people, they can

California has already decided to expand its Medi-Cal program, for example by covering low-income childless adults

WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Growing Medi-Cal matters because now millions more people in this state will be looking for health care providers like community clinics! Clinics will be able to serve many more low-income people

Lots more people will be able to afford private health insurance

The Supreme Court said that it agrees with President Obama: the healthcare reform law will require adults in this country to have health insurance

California has set up a program to help people shop for health insurance, and will provide discounts so they can afford it

WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Requiring adults to have health insurance, and making it affordable, matters because it means millions more Californians will soon be shopping for a new place to go for medical care. We want these newly-insured people to be community clinic patients!

If clinics are going to attract these new patients, we need to show them why we’re their best choice: we provide excellent, cutting-edge medical care, and we know their cultures and their languages better than anyone else

Millions of dollars are available to community clinics in California