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Post Info TOPIC: Texas tries to stitch a safety net without Planned Parenthood
ed11563


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Texas tries to stitch a safety net without Planned Parenthood
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Texas tries to stitch a safety net without Planned Parenthood

Reuters
By Andy Sullivan 22 minutes ago

 
Ashley Sandoval sorts pills at the pharmacy at Nuestra Clinica de Valle women's clinic in San Juan, Texas
.

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Ashley Sandoval, a pharmacist assistant, sorts pills at the pharmacy at Nuestra Clinica de Valle women's …

By Andy Sullivan

MCALLEN, Texas(Reuters) - Four years after cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, the state of Texas says it has been able to rebuild its safety net, in what could be a model for Republicans in Congress who hope to defund the nation's largest family planning provider at the national level.

Independent health experts dispute the claim, saying Texas still has a long way to go before it can provide the level of service it did when Planned Parenthood was an integral part of its family planning efforts.

According to figures provided to Reuters by Texas health officials, the state's retooled family-planning programs reached 317,393 women in the 2014 fiscal year, nearly as many as the 320,044 the state served in fiscal 2010, before it cut off funding to Planned Parenthood.

After recruiting other health clinics and doctors to provide contraceptives to low-income women, state officials say their biggest challenge at this point is getting the word out.

"There is access for every woman in Texas to be able to receive the services she needs," said Lesley French, who oversees women's health programs at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

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Doctor gives instructions to assistant at Nuestra Clinica …
Ventzislav Vanguelov (L), an obstetrics and gynecology doctor, gives instructions to physician's …

    Anti-abortion activists have long targeted Planned Parenthood because it provides abortion along with contraception and other women's health services. Criticism mounted this summer when undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials talking about providing fetal parts for research.

    Federal law already prohibits taxpayer money from being spent on abortions, except in cases of rape or incest or when the mother's life is in danger, and Planned Parenthood relies on private donations to pay for its abortion services.     

    In 2011, the Texas state legislature cut Planned Parenthood out of one family-planning program and revamped the way another program hands out funds, placing private clinics like Planned Parenthood at the bottom of the list.

    Last month, Governor Greg Abbott said he would block the organization from participating in all Medicaid programs in the state.

    Legislators also imposed a welter of expensive new regulations on abortion clinics, forcing many of them to close.   

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Celena Pollock at Nuestra Clinica del Valle in San …
Celena Pollock, a PA AT University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, helps at the Nuestra Clinica del Vall …

    

SCALING BACK

Once the state's largest birth control provider, Planned Parenthood has dramatically scaled back its presence in Texas. The network now operates 35 clinics there, 46 fewer than in 2010. Some 16 have closed their doors permanently, while others have consolidated or severed ties with the national network.

    The cuts have hit hardest in remote areas, the group says. Along the Rio Grande Valley, the local Planned Parenthood affiliate closed four of its eight clinics and laid off half its staff.

    The affiliate cut its ties to Planned Parenthood in order to tap state funds, but expects it still won't have the capacity to serve many of its former patients.

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Nadia Reyna gets her blood pressure checked at Nuestra …
Expectant mother Nadia Reyna gets her blood pressure checked by medical assistant Gaby Gonzalez at N …

    "Who has picked them up? We don't know," said Patricio Gonzales, chief executive of the now-renamed Access Esperanza health group.

    Planned Parenthood hasn't been the only casualty. Some 36 other family-planning clinics across the state have also closed their doors since the changes, according to the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, an academic effort that tracks the state's family planning efforts.

    Those that remain open now often charge money for services that they once provided for free.

    Marisol Rincon, 35, said she was unable to afford the $60 that Access Esperanza charged her when it was cut out of the state family-planning program. She opted to use condoms, even though they had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy previously.

    "It was between having to buy food for my kids or paying for some type of exam or birth control," she said.

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Nadia Reyna gets her blood pressure checked at Nuestra …
Expectant mother Nadia Reyna gets her blood pressure checked by medical assistant Gaby Gonzalez at N …

    There is no statistical evidence to date that the changes have led to more unwanted pregnancies. Texas birth rates have fallen and abortions have dropped, in line with national trends.

    But there are signs that the state's safety net has frayed. One in three Texas women in 2014 said she had no regular health-care provider, up from 1 in 5 in 2010, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

    Texas's family-planning costs ballooned from $15 million in fiscal 2011 to $104 million in fiscal 2014, driven partly by the Obama administration's decision to pull its share of funding after Texas cut off Planned Parenthood.

    The state also set up a new $50 million program that combines family planning with other health services like diabetes screening. Planned Parenthood isn't allowed to participate.

    Anti-abortion activists say voters in Texas are willing to foot the bill to ensure that their money doesn't go to Planned Parenthood.

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Dora Proa talks about the women she sees on a daily …
Dora Proa talks about the women she sees on a daily basis at the Access Esperanza clinic, in McAllen …

    "Taxpayers are protected, by and large, from having their tax dollars being used to promote abortion as a method of birth control," said Joe Pojman, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Life.

    The state has worked to recruit doctors and health clinics to serve patients who had formerly relied on Planned Parenthood.

    With a record $285 million budgeted for women's health over the next two years, lawmakers and officials say women should now be able to find care through other medical providers.

    Independent health experts say Texas is overstating its case. A more accurate assessment, they say,  would show that the state actually provided family planning services to about 250,000 women in fiscal 2014, still far short of the 320,000 who were served before Planned Parenthood was forced out.

They say the state is inflating its numbers by tens of thousands by including women who used the state's new Expanded Primary Health Care program for services other than contraception, such as hypertension and diabetes screening.

    "Texas has a big job to do to make the new programs work across the state," said Janet Realini, president of Healthy Futures of Texas, a coalition of women's health providers that does not include Planned Parenthood.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Sue Horton)



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Lawyerlady


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Ok - so here is what I don't understand. Health insurance is now basically mandatory under Obamacare - everyone is supposed to have it and liberals extol the virtues of Obamacare ad nauseum. Health insurance provides free birth control. Therefore - if Obamacare was working, this would no longer be an issue.

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Lawyerlady wrote:

Ok - so here is what I don't understand. Health insurance is now basically mandatory under Obamacare - everyone is supposed to have it and liberals extol the virtues of Obamacare ad nauseum. Health insurance provides free birth control. Therefore - if Obamacare was working, this would no longer be an issue.


OMG! Don't use logic!!

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Marisol Rincon, 35, said she was unable to afford the $60 that Access Esperanza charged her when it was cut out of the state family-planning program. She opted to use condoms, even though they had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy previously.

"It was between having to buy food for my kids or paying for some type of exam or birth control," she said.

Uh huh. Funny how these same people always can AFFORD tattoos, cigarettes and alcohol. So, she is buying condoms and cannot "afford" to get prescribed birth control which you can get at Walmart for like $4? And, she's 35. Hello. So, she can barely function at 35. Great.


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lilyofcourse


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Looks to me like the programs are working.



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Lawyerlady wrote:

Ok - so here is what I don't understand. Health insurance is now basically mandatory under Obamacare - everyone is supposed to have it and liberals extol the virtues of Obamacare ad nauseum. Health insurance provides free birth control. Therefore - if Obamacare was working, this would no longer be an issue.

This is what I am thinking.  In fact all funding to organizations that were stop gaps for people without insurance should be stopped.  Only makes sense. 



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Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:



Marisol Rincon, 35, said she was unable to afford the $60 that Access Esperanza charged her when it was cut out of the state family-planning program. She opted to use condoms, even though they had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy previously.

"It was between having to buy food for my kids or paying for some type of exam or birth control," she said.

Uh huh. Funny how these same people always can AFFORD tattoos, cigarettes and alcohol. So, she is buying condoms and cannot "afford" to get prescribed birth control which you can get at Walmart for like $4? And, she's 35. Hello. So, she can barely function at 35. Great.

 Ummm, how about feeding the kids and stop having sex until you can afford BC or the kids you have already?



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Well Duh! But but she's a victim wah wah!

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Nobody Just Nobody


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Obamacare-we have it.

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lilyofcourse


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There are a whole lot of people still without insurance. They don't qualify for any help and are exempt.

Caitlyn is one, Jesse will be in April of next year.

I have no problem with low cost health care. Using clinics and such to get health care is not new.

But getting BC is so stupid easy.

Yes, the doctor bill is $60. Ok. So? I was always able to scrape up enough for the things I wanted. So to say you can't buy what you need is ridiculous.

Now, I do think BC should be covered by insurance. But only if you are using it.

I don't like one size fits all insurance. Not everyone needs the same things in insurance.

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BC is about the ONLY thing Obamacare covers.

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That seems to be true.



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Well, since our family is currently on an Obamacare plan I now have personal experience with it. I can tell you what it's like.

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I have a California Choice plan through the exchange. I haven't had any issues and my premium has gone down, but I still don't think the IRS should be regulating health care. If they want everyone to have it and want it to be a tax, then raise the taxes and offer Universal Healthcare.



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We've had nothing BUT issues. And I want the government OUT of my healthcare.

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Had to go through the exchange for Bunny's insurance. No PPOs offered at all this year.
I did find a plan that another doctor in his doctors office will take, so he won't have the same Doctor he's had his whole life. The plan pays nothing until we meet the $6000 deductible.
But thank goodness my six year old son has maternity coverage.

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Ohfour


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And yet there are people that are saying that there are no doctors that are refusing to treat Obamacare patients. It's a huge problem, they just like to call liar on anyone that says it...

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Maybe because I live in a very urban area it hasn't been an issue. We also picked a high end plan.

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Tangerine wrote:

Had to go through the exchange for Bunny's insurance. No PPOs offered at all this year.
I did find a plan that another doctor in his doctors office will take, so he won't have the same Doctor he's had his whole life. The plan pays nothing until we meet the $6000 deductible.
But thank goodness my six year old son has maternity coverage.

 OMG!  This is us!  We had to switch doctors.  So yeah, that was a lie.  Our exchange doesn't cover our doctors.  But we have insurance.  We have to meet the $5000 deductible and non of our prescriptions are covered on our program.  But thank goodness I could get on birth control.  Even though I don't need it.



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Bonny22Pye wrote:

Maybe because I live in a very urban area it hasn't been an issue. We also picked a high end plan.

 We have the highest end plan possible.



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ed11563


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I know what to do_sometimes wrote:
Lady Gaga Snerd wrote:



Marisol Rincon, 35, said she was unable to afford the $60 that Access Esperanza charged her when it was cut out of the state family-planning program. She opted to use condoms, even though they had resulted in an unwanted pregnancy previously.

"It was between having to buy food for my kids or paying for some type of exam or birth control," she said.

Uh huh. Funny how these same people always can AFFORD tattoos, cigarettes and alcohol. So, she is buying condoms and cannot "afford" to get prescribed birth control which you can get at Walmart for like $4? And, she's 35. Hello. So, she can barely function at 35. Great.

 Ummm, how about feeding the kids and stop having sex until you can afford BC or the kids you have already?

I can't picture someone who is happily having regular sex, giving it up.

I also can't imagine any GUY refusing to pay for birth control for his partner (no matter how many regular partners he has).

 

 



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What we have with O care is very expensive catastrophic health care. We pay premiums for a Cadillac plan, whether you have O care or private insurance and have to meet a huge deductible and incredibly high copays with huge Rx costs. It is a disaster. And I predicted this 6 years ago. Morons that pushed for it.

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if Obamacare was working, this would no longer be an issue.
- Lawyerlady

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As they say at the auto mechanic's, "Well, that right there is your problem ma'am"*.

Obamacare isn't working. Partly due, in my opinion, to the Hobby Lobby decision which only exempted "closely held religious beliefs of the board or owners". Had the ruling barred it from everyone, Obama would have had to issue another illegal "fix" via Executive Order to force Birth Control providers to bill insurance companies directly, or maybe the US Government, for all BC (or something like that).



*note: I know you don't like Obamacare either. I was just having some fun. It seemed to fit your statement well.

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But thank goodness my six year old son has maternity coverage.
- Tangerine

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Don't forget his two free pap smears and OBGYN visits for them every year! They are important for young men, don't ya' know!

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I turned 65 this year so am now on Medicare (oh, yea) but I'm still working. My employer just changed all of the healthcare options for next year. There are no longer any HMO type offerings, only 80/20 coverage at the same or higher prices. The explanation? Our previous plans fell into the Cadillac category and would cost the company almost $1,000,000 in penalties annually when those kick in. The irony? My employer is a healthcare facility whose mission is healthcare for all. Except that many of its own employees will now struggle to pay for their healthcare. Thanks, Obama.

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Janies Friend wrote:

I turned 65 this year so am now on Medicare (oh, yea) but I'm still working. My employer just changed all of the healthcare options for next year. There are no longer any HMO type offerings, only 80/20 coverage at the same or higher prices. The explanation? Our previous plans fell into the Cadillac category and would cost the company almost $1,000,000 in penalties annually when those kick in. The irony? My employer is a healthcare facility whose mission is healthcare for all. Except that many of its own employees will now struggle to pay for their healthcare. Thanks, Obama.

 You have no idea how man healthcare people I have heard say this.



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