Senators: $1.6 million in grants headed to MT health care centers

Baucus, Tester Say Dollars Will Help the Centers Keep Their Doors Open

(Washington, D.C.) –– Montana’s U.S. Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester today announced three grants totaling $1,604,870 for the continuation of community health care centers in Butte, Helena  and Ashland, Montana.

The clinics offer preventative, dental, mental, and primary health care to more than 20,000 Montanans each year. Patients are charged only what they can afford to pay.

The Department of Health and Human Services grant awards:

• $714,599 Butte-Silver Bow Primary Health Care Clinic
• $548,515 Lewis and Clark City-County Health Department 
• $341,756 Ashland Community Health Center

The federal grants account for a large portion of the health center budgets. The health centers rely on the funding grants to keep their doors open.

“These clinics are doing great work- helping to ensure every Montanan gets the health care they need,” said Baucus. “Without this money, these clinics would not be able to function. So these grants are great news.”

“These clinics are reaching far out into the communities and really making a difference,” said Tester. “They get over 80,000 visits a year. It is important to keep these places up and running.”

The Butte Silver Bow Primary Health Care and the Lewis, the Clark City-County Health Department and the Ashland Community Health Center are part of a Health Center Cluster funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.