The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), for the first time, has officially recognized that investments in primary care save taxpayer dollars! Increased funding for health centers is associated with lower spending on emergency departments, hospitalizations, and other expensive outpatient services in the CBO’s cost estimate of the Bipartisan Primary Care and Health Workforce Act (S. 2840). In addition, the House Budget Committee advanced H.R. 766, the Preventative Health Savings Act, which would revamp how the CBO determines the financial cost of preventative health care, making it easier for Congress to pass larger funding increases for health centers.
