For the patients and the employees of Mary's Center, a community health center that serves Washington, D.C., and its Maryland suburbs, the 2010 health law had a big impact on business. The facility has always promised care to anyone who walks through its doors. But since Obamacare's implementation, the patient population and the quality of care they receive has changed.
[..]
Similar stories played out at many of the nation's more than 1,400 federally-backed community health centers, according to two studies published today in Health Affairs. The research offers evidence that in states that embraced the health law, community health centers — which play a key role in providing health care to low-income people, often in medically underserved areas — further extended their reach. It also quantified the types of clinic visits and health services provided that resulted from the expansion.
These findings, though, also highlight the uncertainties some of these clinics face as the incoming Trump administration and the GOP Congress advance plans to repeal and replace Obamacare.
