ICYMI: Pappas Meets With Health Care Providers as Rural Patients Lose Coverage, Costs Skyrocket

CONWAY, NH — In case you missed it, the Conway Daily Sun highlighted Congressman Chris Pappas’s recent visit to White Mountain Community Health Center where he met with frontline providers and discussed the growing strain of the Trump Administration’s drastic cuts to federal health care funding on rural health care providers.

The center, which serves roughly 2,000 patients across the Mount Washington Valley, is facing a sharp increase in uninsured and underinsured patients, increasing the burden of uncompensated care and making it more difficult for the center to make ends meet.

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The Conway Daily Sun: Pappas hears about challenges from health center staff

By Terry Leavitt

  • CONWAY — U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas recently toured White Mountain Community Health Center in Conway for a tour and discussed with staff how federal health care policies are affecting the services the center provides.
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  • White Mountain Community Health Center, a federally qualified health center look-alike, provides health care on a sliding scale, making it affordable to people with lower incomes and higher out-of-pocket costs, including those who get insurance through the Health Care Marketplace, as well as those on Medicare, Medicaid.
  • The health center served over 2,000 patients last year from throughout the Mount Washington Valley and western Maine.
  • A third of the patients have incomes at or below the poverty level. Many face issues of housing, transportation and food insecurity.
  • But staff told the congressman that it is becoming a greater financial challenge for both the health center, whose mission is to make sure people have access to care, and for patients, who are finding it increasingly difficult to afford care in the face of rising costs and high deductibles.
  • In a Facebook post, health center Marketing Director Sienna Kaplan-Thomas thanked Pappas for his visit and noted: “As people in our area lose coverage through Medicare and Medicaid, and Marketplace and employer plans get more expensive, many rely on our sliding fee scale to fill the gap. That’s exactly what it’s here for, but it doesn’t help with all the health-care needs people have, like prescriptions and specialist care, and a big shift in sliding fee scale use puts a strain on our finances.”
  • In her Sun interview, Goudie said some patients are choosing to forego prescriptions and other care because they cannot afford it.
  • Goudie said the health center staff shared patients’ stories, like one given by Medical Director Josie Lamb, APRN, in a prepared statement: “My last appointment of the day today was with a patient who was scheduled for management of a chronic condition, but we ended up focusing a larger portion of the visit on anxiety related to recently losing health insurance. She used to have a marketplace plan, but is no longer able to afford it because the cost of the plan has doubled. She works in a restaurant and does not have employer-sponsored insurance benefits. Her income is slightly too high for a lot of the traditional safety nets, and she is extremely worried because she has multiple chronic conditions and is worried she will not be able to afford to go to scheduled appointments or pay for medications.”
  • Health center staff reported that many of these issues have become worse after the new year, when new health insurance plans started.
  • In an email to the Sun, Goudie said: “In summary, (the staff) report a growing number of patients losing or lacking health insurance due to steep increases in marketplace plan costs. Several patients with chronic conditions, pain issues or substance use disorders are delaying or declining necessary care, medications or referrals because they cannot afford coverage. Many work full-time without employer-sponsored benefits and earn slightly too much to qualify for assistance programs. Some are choosing to pay out of pocket for basic primary care but remain vulnerable to major medical expenses. Overall, since the new year, the clinic is seeing more uninsured patients facing difficult decisions that jeopardize their health.”
  • Even health-care providers are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
  • Mental health professional Valerie Lozier, Psy.D., FNP-BC, said, “I have my own practice in Intervale and then I work here at the health center on Fridays. I had to cancel my insurance through the Marketplace because it was going to be over $800 a month, and that’s the cheapest plan with a $7,500 out of pocket deductible,” said. “And I hear it all the time from my patients here and at my other clinic.”
  • In a news release following the visit, Pappas, who has been a U.S. representative since 2019, is running for U.S. Senate to replace U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who has announced she will not run for re-election, said, “This isn’t theoretical. We’re talking about tens of thousands of Granite Staters and Granite State families that are facing skyrocketing premiums or are at risk of dropping their insurance coverage because it just becomes unaffordable,” said Congressman Chris Pappas. “These are real people and we’re all better off as a community, as a state, if everyone’s covered and can continue to get care — and we all pay more if they’re not able to.”
  • The news release for the Pappas campaign said, “Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington are making the health-care crisis worse by cutting Medicaid — leading to rural health center closures across New Hampshire — and eliminating the ACA enhanced premium tax credits, which will force Granite Staters to pay even more for health care.
  • “Chris knows that our existing health care system is rigged against everyday Granite Staters as it favors profits for insurance companies and Big Pharma over delivering the care people need to survive. He’s running for Senate to stand up to insurance companies and their army of lawyers and lobbyists that indiscriminately deny coverage while reaping record profits. He will work to hold insurance companies and big pharmaceutical companies accountable for soaring prices and diminishing care, and he will fight to restore the ACA premium credits Republicans ended.”
  • Kaplan, in her Facebook post said, “We appreciated the time Congressman Pappas took to hear stories of the stress these changes are putting on our patients and on us, and our hopes and plans to meet more community needs even as we face these challenges. … If you have lost your health insurance recently, or are having to ration health care due to increased costs, please consider reaching out and sharing your story with us or your elected representatives. When those making decisions understand the effects that new laws have on the communities they represent, they are better able to work to make things better.
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