Last week, our 13-member Board of Directors, led by Board Chair Dr. Bobby Kapur, met on Tuesday to discuss the future of the NAFC and how we can best serve our members and our patients throughout the country.
The Board’s discussion centered around NAFC’s 2019 public policy objectives for advocacy work to advance the mission of gaining access to affordable, quality healthcare for the medically underserved. The Board also reviewed NAFC’s 2019 priorities to make sure the mission and goals align with the future of the organization, and make certain that patients and member clinics remain the focus on our work.
NAFC’s main policy objectives for this year include advocating for greater health care access and affordability, workforce development, and nonprofit finance and tax reform. Two major goals are to see that the Free Clinic Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) ensuring medical malpractice coverage for our volunteers is protected and that medication access and affordability discussions include the uninsured patient population.
In addition, ahead of this week’s federal budget announcement, we support continued appropriations funding for important safety-net programs including The Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program under Title X, and the Diabetes and the Underserved Pilot Program. We also support funding that strengthens America’s medical professional and volunteer workforce, like free clinics medical malpractice coverage and nurse corps loan repayment program.
On Wednesday, our Board members met with the offices of 15 members of Congress from 6 different states to advocate for the important work we do. They took a two-prong approach, arriving with folders full of information about our public policy objectives and the latest data on the 2 million patients free and charitable clinics served in 2018. They also shared personal stories about their work to impact their own communities and the on-the-ground work of serving the medically underserved.
We’re proud of the work we did this year and look forward to taking on the challenges of 2019!
Read our full appropriations plan here and a detailed list of our public policy objectives here.