The Local Politics of Community Health Care

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Much of health care for marginalized populations is delivered in local settings by community-based organizations (CBOs). These include, among others, community health centers, rural health clinics, and community mental health clinics. Health politics literature on these organizations primarily explores the politics of the national policies that catalyzed expansions or reductions in the number of CBOs and funding for related programs. In this panel, we shift the focus toward the local setting. We examine how local politics influence decisions to participate in federal programs related to CBOs, the local distribution of community health care benefits, and the local response to federal CBO policies. We are excited to offer four papers. Barnard’s analysis of state legislation and discourse establishes a reversal of the decades-long expansion of community-based mental health care through the emergence and increase of state policy and frames related to forced psychiatric treatment. Mauri examines if framing of mental illness during policymaking produces downstream effects for the local distribution of community mental health care benefits. Singer analyzes local responses to a federal policy offering rural health clinics enhanced federal funds in exchange for the termination of all inpatient care. Xiang, Mauri, and Mickey assess how local political environments influence community health center decisions to participate in federal health center programs.

Sub Unit

• Division 48: Health Politics & Health Policy

Cosponsor

• Division 25: Public Policy

Individual Presentations

• Bring Back the Asylum? State Legislation on Involuntary Psychiatric Care - Alexander Vosick Barnard, New York University

• Linked Problems: Community Mental Health Framing and Benefit Distribution - Amanda Isabel Mauri, University of Michigan

• Local Response to Rural Hospital Program: Analysis of Regulatory Comments - Phillip M. Singer, University of Utah

• The Politics of Community Health Centers’ Expansion, 2012 – 2019 - Nuannuan Xiang, Columbia University; Amanda Isabel Mauri, University of Michigan; Robert Mickey, University of Michigan

Chair

• Timothy Herbert Callaghan Boston University

Discussant

• Charley Ellen Willison Cornell University