Judge allows Texas to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid program

Judge allows Texas to remove Planned Parenthood from Medicaid program

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Texas has long tried to ban Planned Parenthood, which produces abortions in Texas, from Medicaid. Medicaid funding does not cover abortions, except in cases of rape or incest, or if the woman’s life is in danger, due to the Hyde Amendment, which dates back to 1976.

Several Texas Planned Parenthood subsidiaries sued the state last month for plotting to ban Planned Parenthood from the program in light of a federal appeals court order in November that allows the state to determine if providers are qualified to participate in Medicaid to take or not.

The groups allege that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission did not issue a proper notice of termination of the program. Later that day, a Texas judge temporarily blocked their dismissal of the Medicaid program, while the state planned the next day.

But in a ruling Wednesday, Travis County Civil District Judge Lora Livingston wrote that the groups “do not cite any authority for the allegation that a court order requires the (Texas Office of the Inspector General) to terminate it again. do not pay attention. “

“This decision is not taken lightly,” Livingston continued. “In light of the ongoing public health crisis, the risks of the individual losing health care and medical attention require increased attention and investigation. The facts underlying the termination in this case give me a big break. However, the groups have elected the federal courts. as the forum for disputing the grounds of their claims … (which) must be determined by the federal courts. ‘

The consequences of deviating from the planned parenting of the program can be strong. In 2019, Planned Parenthood provided health care to more than 8,000 Medicaid recipients in Texas, according to the most recent figures available to the organization.
According to 2020 data from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, Texas has the lowest limits for Medicaid income as a percentage of the federal poverty level for a parent with two children. In addition, Texas has reported more than 2.7 million Covid-19 cases and more than 45,000 deaths due to the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In a statement, Alexis McGill Johnson, president of the planned parenting action fund, on Wednesday accused the Texas government’s Greg Abbott, a Republican, of “continuing to” present his policies to the people he was elected to dien ‘.

“While Texane is grappling with the compounding crises of the pandemic and the aftermath of the deadly winter storm, thousands of people who rely on Medicaid will now face another hurdle that Abbott’s government has built: a new provider. find in a state that has a shortage of suppliers, “she said. “It doesn’t have to be for Texans.”

CNN released Abbott for comment. Christine Mann, press officer of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, declined to comment on the case, citing ongoing lawsuits.

Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, director of state media campaigns at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the organization is “exploring all of our options” regarding the next step in the fight to stay in the program.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission told affiliated Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2015 that they were cutting off the organization of the state’s Medicaid program, citing recently released secret videos of an anti-abortion activist group as evidence of violations . But a federal judge ruled in 2017 that the state could not withhold Medicaid funding from the provider, saying there was no evidence in the videos of an anti-abortion activist group that Planned Parenthood violated ethical or medical standards not.
Following the appellate court’s ruling last year, Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in December whether they could stay in the Medicaid program during the worst pandemic, and if not, for a six-month grace period until allows our patients to look after urgent health needs in this time of crisis of this pandemic, and to allow us to help our patients find new providers who are willing to accept new patients insured by Medicaid. ‘

In a January 4 letter, the state commission denied their request to stay in the Medicaid program, citing the court order. The commission banned the affiliates from accepting new Medicaid patients, but gave a ’30-night night’ period to switch patients to new providers ending in February, a day after Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates sued has.

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