In Virginia-Western, a non-profit mental health program for adolescent girls turns to a private donor to help cover his expenses. Three virginia health clinics have closed their doors. And a network of health centers in the rural regions of Mississippi faces a deficit of $ 500,000 and may have to develop the services.
Throughout the country, health clinics and non -profit organizations largely used rural and low -income patients have been unable to access the previously allocated federal funds, as short -term Government financing freezing continued to disrupt daily operations for a range of programs.
The disturbance seems to come from A vaguely formulated memo of two pages The management and budget office sent to all federal agencies at the beginning of last week, ordering them to “temporarily suspend all activities related to the obligation or disbursement of all federal financial aid” which could enter into Conflict with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
A judge quickly blocked action Last week, and the Ministry of Justice said in a file on Wednesday that agencies were working in the process of issuing all appropriate financing disbursements. But some organizations say they are still unable to access the money they need to pay wages, public services, supplies and other expenses – threatening their ability to continue to operate in their communities.
“We continue to hear non -profit organizations which are unable to access the funding they need to continue their programs and continue to pay their staff,” said Diane Yertel, CEO of the National Council of Organizations to Non -profit, which was part of a legal action brought to block the financing frost. “It is clear that the confusion and the chaos that the directive were unleashed did not end, despite its cancellation and despite the temporary restriction orders of two different courts.”
Yentel said that a large part of the funding to which groups are unable to access come from programs administered by the Ministry of Health and Social Services (HHS). While some organizations have had no problem withdrawing their funds since the memo that runs the financing freezing was canceled, dozens of others have not been able to withdraw money from the web payment system that manages their federal subsidies.
A spokesperson for HHS has acknowledged that some subsidy beneficiaries have experienced access to their federal funds and have attributed the delays in the technical problems that the agency’s website has had. A A high volume of requests intervened since the website was temporarily offline last week after the financing freezing.
HHS strives to “help accelerate resolutions as quickly as possible,” the spokesman said in a statement.
Health clinics and non -profit organizations at the service of low -income patients say that there is little room for maneuver in their budget to cover their costs without federal assistance.
Community health centers, also known as federal skilled health centers, are counting on federal subsidies for part of their funding in order to provide medical, dental, behavioral health care and consumption disorders to substances to substances Over 32 million Americans. Who is 1 in 5 rural Americans And 1 in 3 people living in poverty, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers.
In Virginia, 11 of the 31 operators of the State Community Health Center were still unable to access their funding from Thursday morning, said Joe Stevens, spokesperson for the Virginia Community Healthcare Association. One of these suppliers had to close three of his clinics in Richmond and directed patients to his other locations. Another clinic in the southwest of Southwest Virginia is likely to reduce services or to close if its funding does not take place over the next two weeks, Stevens said.
“If a health center closes in rural Virginia, for many people who are their main source of health care, there are no nearby hospitals, no emergency centers nearby,” said declared Stevens.
During his confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump candidate to the Secretary of Health and Social Services, said: “I strongly support community health centers, just like the president.” But the Democrats including Senator Mark Warner of Virginia Criticized Kennedy For how he answered questions about these programs, Warner saying that Kennedy “seemed confused”.
Several clinics from Maine, Nebraska, Illinois and Michigan have not been able to withdraw funds from the website managed by the federal government they use to access money, according to Advocates for Community Health, a advocacy group for community health centers.
“Although we do not have an answer for reasoning behind, we know that health centers cannot allow us to wait, and it is essential that the congress and (the administration of health resources and services ) arrive at the bottom of it, ”said Amanda Pears Kelly, CEO at Advocates for Community Health. “The health centers in Virginia have already been forced to close their doors and cancel patient meetings this week because they are unable to access payments, and we fear that more closures and closings content is not on the way. “
In Mississippi, Delta Health Center, which operates clinics from the Mississippi Delta region, is waiting for nearly $ 500,000 in federal funds to be released to reimburse its clinics for spending, including wages. If money is not made available soon, clinics can be faced with a “potential service disturbance,” said Robin Boyles, responsible for planning the programming and development of the Delta Health Center, which is the first rural community health center in the country.
The association of the Mississippi Community Health Center declared last week that 21 centers had been locked up the system where they wrote funding.
In Alabama, Dr. John Waits, CEO of Cahaba Medical Care, who serves parts of the Birmingham region as well as rural parties of Alabama, said that he had passed in “crisis management” mode the week Last while the initial news of the federal distribution of financing for funding spreads.
The federal money he needed to gain payroll was not available at 5 p.m. last Friday. About 30% of the financing of its program comes from federal subsidies. The organization had to operate its reserve funds to win its payroll of approximately $ 3.5 million for 610 employees before federal funding becomes again on Tuesday.
“It is extremely scary to have to receive an email saying that all your funding for the entire organization is in danger if you do not comply with Xyz,” he said. “But as the dust has settled, I tried to keep our team calm and say:” No one will lose their job. “”
Elena Nicolella, head of the Rhode Island Health Center Association, said that the health clinics of his state have seen rolling problems since last week’s financing freezing. Thursday morning, the website used by clinics to access the funds was inaccessible, before it returned online in the afternoon.
It was not until Thursday evening that all Minnesota health centers had access to their funding, but organizations are worried about what could come, said John Watson, CEO of the Minnesota Association of Community Health Centers.
“At this point, we are all good, we have access, but we are extremely anxious to move forward because of the roller coaster on which we were,” said Watson.
The disturbances have extended beyond health clinics to non-profit organizations that provide mental health and other support services. In Virginia-Western, Libera non-profit organization has not been able to access the funds of an HHS grant to help pay for mental health support groups and resources for college students, A Declared Karen Haring, Executive Director of Libera.
The organization asked for the funds last Thursday and expected that they were available on Friday. A week later, the money had still not been published and the website portal was not accessible on Thursday morning. Haring said that she had contacted a private donor to help cover staff, training and other resources until the federal dollars are available.
“As you can imagine, it makes us very confused and uncertain. We don’t know what’s going on. We do not know why the website is broken, we do not know why we have not received our payment, ”said Haring. “These federal subsidies generally work on reimbursement in order to spend the money, then you submit your payment request, then you are reimbursed. We are very concerned about not obtaining them. »»