A number of Texas Planned Parenthood subsidiary companies allege in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission did not issue a proper notice of termination of the program. The state promised to remove the groups from the Medicaid program on Thursday.
The chief press officer of the Texas Health & Human Services Commission, Christine Mann, declined to comment on the matter and is pending pending lawsuit.
The consequences of such a shift can be strong. In 2019, Planned Parenthood provided health care to more than 8,000 Medicaid recipients in the state, according to the latest figures available to the organization. In addition, Texas reported nearly 2.5 million Covid-19 cases and reported more than 38,000 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Texas has long sought to ban Planned Parenthood from the program – although Medicaid funding does not cover abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when the woman’s life is in danger, due to the Hyde Amendment, which dates back to 1976. .
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 .
A federal judge ruled in 2017 that the state could not withhold Medicaid funding from the provider, saying there was no evidence in the video that Planned Parenthood violated ethical or medical standards. The judge also found no state evidence showing that Planned Parenthood changes abortions to obtain fetal tissue for research.
But the fight resurfaced last November when the fifth district court of appeal overturned the district court order and ruled that ‘whether a supplier is’ qualified’ in the sense of [Medicaid statutes] is a matter that needs to be resolved between the State (or the federal government) and the provider. ”
In turn, Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates in December asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission whether they could stay in the Medicaid program during the worst pandemic, and if not, for a six-month grace period to close our patients late to take. caring for urgent health needs during this crisis period 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 Medicare program, citing the court order, banning the affiliates from accepting new Medicaid patients, but offering a 30-day period ‘which ends on Wednesday to switch patients to new providers.
The chairman and CEO of the planned parenting, Alexis McGill Johnson, said in a statement on Wednesday that “Gov. [Greg] Abbott, encouraged by Trump’s legacy, harms the same people who are struggling the most to survive this pandemic. ”
“By forcing people – disproportionately black and colored people, essential workers and single parents – to go without critical health care, his government is jeopardizing their future, safety and the ability to control their own bodies,” she added.
CNN released Abbott’s office for comment.
According to 2020 data from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, Texas has the lowest limits on Medicaid income as a percentage of the federal poverty level for a parent with two children.
Texas is not the only state competing with Medicaid to start Planned Parenthood. In October, the Supreme Court refused to make an effort by the Republicans of South Carolina to reduce funding for planned parenting by excluding abortion clinics from the state’s Medicaid program.
But whether the organization’s future as a Medicaid provider will pose such challenges remains unclear.
In 2018, the Trump administration issued a letter to directors of Medicaid, recalling an April 2016 Obama administration mandate warning that cuts to family planning providers would violate federal law. Then-President Donald Trump also signed a bill in 2017 that would allow states to withhold federal money from organizations that provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood.
The Biden administration is expected to issue guidelines that states cannot prevent Medicaid funds from going to qualified health care providers who also perform abortions or related services, such as Planned Parenthood. CNN released the White House for comment, postponing the Department of Health and Human Services.
When asked to comment on whether and when such guidelines would be issued to states, a health and human services spokesman called on the agency to ‘protect and strengthen the Medicaid program’, in line with an executive order which was signed by President Joe Biden last week. .
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