LOWELL — The Lowell Community Health Center informed 26 employees they were being laid off Monday and Tuesday amid rising costs and a tough economy for community health centers across the state. The health center remains one of the city’s largest employers,” the organization said in its statement. The health center said it is “supporting affected staff” and that the organization will consider them for future roles if positions open up. Now, with changes we are seeing at the federal level, health centers are facing a number of other significant headwinds,” Cronan said. Impending changes to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies “puts at risk the health center coverage patients do have,” Cronan said, when nearly half of all community health center patients in the state pay through Medicaid.