The fastest-growing segment of uninsured Americans are between 45 and 64 years old. Among the fastest-growing hospital services nationally are emergency rooms, up 25 percent from 1998 to 2002. The combination explains some of the rising cost of health care, but, more importantly, highlights the crucial role community health centers play and the necessity of their expansion soon.

You probably didn’t know this was Community Health Center Week and you likely don’t know that Maine has 40 such centers throughout the state, serving 100,000 people each year. The centers rely on federal subsidies to offer free or inexpensive care – including preventive care – to provide services for the uninsured so they don’t have to wait until a crisis strikes and they have serious health trouble, entering the health care system through its most expensive door, the one to the emergency room.

The Bush administration has expanded funding for these centers, which serve both residents and migrant workers and, important for the states, reduce the cost of Medicaid by making inexpensive care available. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine’s Medicaid program saves $3.34 for every $1 invested in the health centers.

The administration hopes to open enough centers nationwide so that the number of people served increases from 10 million to 16 million by 2006. Maine was helped achieve this in the latest budget round, getting $650,000 from a $20 million federal expansion fund.

Community health centers in Maine provide primary care statewide, from York to Eagle Lake, Rangeley to Princeton. According to the Maine Primary Care Association, these services could save up to $43 million in preventable emergency services here. For instance, the DFD Russell Medical Center in Leeds, with sites in Turner and Monmouth, treats adults and children at drastically reduced rates, performs minor surgery and offers mental-health counseling. Centers also provide lab services, offer low-cost prescription drugs to those who qualify and, in some cases, offer desperately needed dental services. This is efficient, effective care that should be available to more people.

As the state makes progress on its own health care system, Dirigo, it has looked for coherence in the many pieces that make up the current hodgepodge of care networks in Maine. With community health centers it has a logical, coordinated and successful model of primary treatment that strengthens the entire system in Maine. That’s one more reason this week to recognize the good work these centers perform.