KHIC Offers Loans to Expand Access to Rural Health Care
Wednesday May 11, 2005
New Markets
KHIC to Offers Loans to Expand Access to
Rural Health Care
Washington DC - U.S. Representative Hal Rogers announced
today that the Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation (KHIC), based in London , has received approval from the U.S. Department of
Treasury to secure up to $22 million in private sector investments that will be
used to improve health care opportunities in rural Kentucky.
“Expanding access to health care is
one of the most important things we can do to improve the quality of life
throughout rural Kentucky,” said Rogers. “My hope is that we can one day expand
services enough so that people can get the medical treatments and services they
need close to home rather than having to drive to Lexington, Louisville, or
Knoxville.” Rogers added, “Over the last 37 years, KHIC
has made a tremendous impact in our region through its many valuable economic
development initiatives. The funding
obtained through the New Market Tax Credit program will enable KHIC to further
those efforts.”
The goal of the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) Program is to
bring private-sector investments into urban and rural low-income areas to help
finance community development projects, stimulate economic opportunity, and
create jobs in areas that need it most.
The NMTC Program allows participating individuals, banks, and financial
institutions to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making
qualified equity investments in Community Development Entities such as
KHIC. In this case, KHIC has received
permission to obtain up to $22 million in investments, which will then be used
to provide low interest loans to healthcare-related businesses with the goal of
improving access to healthcare in rural Kentucky.
“Kentucky
Highlands Investment Corporation’s New Market Tax Credit Program will
significantly enhance its ability to serve a particularly underserved market,”
said Jerry Rickett, President and CEO of KHIC.
“According to a recent report by the University of Kentucky Center for Rural
Health, healthcare providers indicate that it is extremely difficult in many of
the targeted counties and nearly impossible in some to secure affordable
financing for healthcare clinics, hospitals and other healthcare related
facilities.
The investment incentive
offered by New Market Tax Credit will enable Kentucky Highlands by working with
local financial institutions to offer affordable financing that it would
otherwise be unable to do with traditional forms of capital lending.”
KHIC
serves the following twenty-two counties in southern and eastern Kentucky: Bell, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Estill, Harlan, Jackson,
Knox, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Madison, McCreary,
Owsley, Perry, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne, and Whitley.
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