The Texas health services department decided to ensure that Planned Parenthood does not receive any of the funding that comes from a federal program. This could result in the state of Texas losing all of their federal funding for Medicaid. That possibility does not seem to bother Governor Perry.
A few days ago, the Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner, Tom Suehs, signed a new rule. The rule specifically excludes Planned Parenthood from receiving any of the funding that comes from the federal government for the Medicaid Women’s Health Program (WHP).
The lawmakers in Texas who created this rule have concerns about federal funding going to what they term “affiliates of abortion providers”. In reality, taxpayer money does not got toward abortion clinics. There are already laws in place that prevent the funding from being used that way.
Basically, these lawmakers don’t want to see federal money being used to help women with the financial aspects involved with an abortion. They have selected to exclude all Planned Parenthood clinics in the state of Texas from receiving federal funding because the lawmakers believe that all Planned Parenthood clinics are places where abortions are preformed. Their belief is mistaken.
The Medicaid Women’s Health Program (WHP) provides funding for the basic preventative care that women need. This includes cancer screenings. According to the Texas Independent, more than 124,000 low-income Texas women use WHP in order to be able to afford to have a cancer screening. The WHP also covers birth control.
About half of the women in Texas who are using WHP go to Planned Parenthood in order to receive these preventative health care services. This makes Planned Parenthood the single largest provider of women’s reproductive health care within the Medicaid Women’s Health Program in Texas.
Medicaid is a program that is partially funded by an individual state, and partially funded by the federal government. For Texas, the federal government funds cover 90% of the Medicaid program. If the state of Texas chooses to exclude the largest women’s health care provider in the state from receiving any of the Medicaid funding, the federal government can choose to cut all of the funding that it is giving the state of Texas for the Medicaid program.
It comes down to simple factors. The lawmakers who incorrectly believe that federal funding for Medicaid could go to abortion clinics are confused. Those lawmakers are focused on making certain that they prevent money from going to any clinic that they believe is an “affiliate of abortion providers”. They do not care that their choices will result in removing access to preventative women’s health care to the uninsured and low-income women who live in Texas.
Texas has the highest rate of cervical cancer in the entire United States. More than one-quarter of the women who live in Texas are not covered by any form of health insurance.
Image by Calsidyrose on Flickr