A group of eight Planned Parenthood organizations filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas on Wednesday to prevent the state from excluding them from its Women’s Health Program. In March, Governor Rick Perry implemented a rule that excludes affiliates of abortion providers from the Medicaid Women’s Health Program, essentially cutting any government funding to Planned Parenthood. The eight Planned Parenthood organizations who filed the suit do not provide abortion services.
CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County in South Texas, Patricio Gonzales, told reporters from Reuters that the “worst of all my fears is that these women will forgo life-saving screenings, comprehensive exams, reliable birth control and other vital preventive healthcare services.”
Following the implementation of the funding restrictions, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the federal government will no longer provide funding through the Medicaid family planning program for the state of Texas. Officials at the Medicaid federal agency said that states are not allowed to restrict patient’s access to particular providers and still receive federal funding.
Reuters 4/11/12; AP 4/11/12; NPR 4/11/12, Feminist Daily News Wire 3/16/12
1 comment
Lois Kerschen says:
Apr 14, 2012
The fears of Patricio Gonzales are unfounded. There are only 44 Planned Parenthood sites that receive WHP funds, representing less than two percent of providers in the WHP.
In Fiscal Year 2010, nearly 80 percent of women served received WHP services from non Planned Parenthood providers. NOTE: PP serves 45% of WHP clients. BUT it’s also true that nearly 80% of the.
women get services at OTHER rpoviders. That’s becasue many women seek care at miltiple places during the year. Therefore the program can certainly ooperate without PP because nearly 80% of the women in the program received services fronm non-PP providers.
There are more than 2,500 qualified providers in the WHP that operate more than 4,600 locations across the state. These typically offer comprehensive primary and preventative care to low-income women.
in addition to family planning. That means a woman will likely see a doctor at her visit.
Check out this Texas Tribune map of available provider:
http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-womens-health-program-providers/.
Planned Parenthood is a poor investment of public funds. PP offers only a narrow range of services and is unwilling or incapable of offering comprehensive primary and preventative care. PPcannot treat breast cancer, offers no prenatal care, and does not even have mammogram machines. The only time a woman will see a doctor at Planned Parenthood is if she is there for an abortion.
Further, Planned Parenthood’s cost per client is 43 percent higher than most other providers, according to the Texas Health and HumanServices Commission.