WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, and Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, have introduced legislation that would authorize $45 million in federal grants for proven, locally designed and administered health care programs for the uninsured.

“The initiative provides for local flexibility and innovation to enable communities to address their unique and diverse health care needs,” Hoekstra said. “It is an opportunity for stakeholders who are closest to the issue to develop solutions to covering the uninsured.”

“These grants will encourage local, community-based solutions to America’s health insurance crisis,” Stupak noted. “More than 46 million Americans are uninsured and we have a responsibility to tackle this problem at both the national and local levels.”

The Communities Building Access Act would offer grants to communities that design and implement proven, community-based programs that have successfully provided health care coverage for uninsured individuals. The legislation was inspired by two nationally acclaimed model programs – Access Health of Muskegon and CareNet of Toledo/Lucas County, Ohio – that have succeeded in covering uninsured individuals.

Localities could use the grants to administer programs in which the cost of health care is distributed equally among employers, employees and the community. Communities could also receive grants to administer Volunteer Specialty Provider Networks, which are a coordinated approach between local governments and health care providers to donate time, services and information for low-income members enrolled in the network. The legislation would authorize the grant funding for a seven-year period.

The Communities Building Access Act would also establish a national clearinghouse for collecting, evaluating and disseminating data and information regarding the administration of the program.