Judge Allows Texas To Take Planned Parenthood Out Of Medicaid Program

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Texas has long sought to ban Planned Parenthood, which provides Texas abortions, from Medicaid. Medicaid funding does not cover abortions, except in cases of rape or incest or when a woman’s life is in danger, due to the Hyde Amendment, dating from 1976.

Several Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates sued the state last month over a decision to ban Planned Parenthood from the program in light of a federal appeals court order in November allowing states to determine whether providers qualify. or not to participate in Medicaid.

The groups claimed that the Texas Board of Health and Human Services had not issued a “notice of termination” of the program. Later that day, a Texas County judge temporarily blocked their ouster from the Medicaid program, with the state scheduled for the following day.

But in a ruling on Wednesday, Travis County Civil District Court Judge Lora Livingston wrote that the groups “cite no authority for the proposition that a court injunction compels the (Texas office of the Inspector General) to notify its termination again. “

“This decision is not taken lightly,” Livingston continued. “In light of the ongoing public health crisis, the risks of the individual losing health and medical care require increased attention and scrutiny. The facts underlying the termination in this case give me some big break. the courts as a forum to challenge the merits of their claims … (which) must be decided by federal courts. “

The impacts of Planned Parenthood’s departure from the program could be striking. In 2019, Planned Parenthood provided healthcare to more than 8,000 Medicaid recipients in Texas, according to the most recent figures available from the organization.
According to 2020 data from the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, Texas has the lowest Medicaid income eligibility limits as a percentage of the federal poverty level for a parent with two children. Additionally, Texas has reported more than 2.7 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 45,000 deaths from the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

In a statement Wednesday, Planned Parenthood Action Fund Chairman Alexis McGill Johnson accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, of continuing to “put his politics ahead of the people he was elected to serve.” .

As Texans grapple with the worsening crises of the pandemic and the impacts of the deadly winter storm, thousands of people who depend on Medicaid will now face another hurdle Gov. Abbott built: finding a new provider in a state that lacks suppliers, ”she said. “It didn’t have to be that way for the Texans.”

CNN has reached out to Abbott for comment. Christine Mann, press officer for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, declined to comment on the case, citing ongoing litigation.

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

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission informed Planned Parenthood affiliates in 2015 that it was cutting the organization from the state’s Medicaid program, citing undercover videos then recently posted by a group of anti-abortion activists as evidence of violations. But a federal judge ruled in 2017 that the state could not deny Medicaid funding to the provider, saying there was no evidence in videos from a group of anti-abortion activists that Planned Parenthood had. violated ethical or medical standards.
After the appeals court finding last year, Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates asked the Texas Health and Human Services Commission in December if they could stay in the Medicaid program during the worst of the pandemic, and if not , for “a six-month grace period to enable our patients to take care of urgent health needs during this crisis phase of this pandemic, and to enable us to help our patients try to find new providers ready to accept new Medicaid insured patients. “

In a January 4 letter, the state commission denied their request to remain in the Medicaid program, citing the court order. The commission banned affiliates from accepting new Medicaid patients, but provided a “30-day grace period” for transitioning patients to new providers ending in February, the day after Texas Planned Parenthood affiliates sued.

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