Is that "jobs saved" kind of math?
"PROPOSED CUTS
The U.S. House recently voted to eliminate the Title X (10) Family Planning Program, which was enacted in 1970 by Republican President Richard Nixon. The program — the only one of its kind, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — ensures that low-income families have access to contraceptive services, including supplies and information, as well as related preventive services, such as breast, testicular and cervical cancer exams.
“We’re very concerned about the federal activity going on in Congress right now to eliminate Title X,” Gonzales said. “We’ve got 10 (centers) that get Title X funding. So eliminating it would drastically affect us down here.”
“The cuts would be very devastating because right then and there, 6,000 women would not be able to get access to health care — basic, life-saving screenings for cancer, pap smears, breast exams, birth control — all of this preventive care, which saves the taxpayers money,” Gonzales said.
But eliminating the program is not the only attempt by the federal government to debunk the association, the CEO added. The Pence Amendment, which also was passed by the Republican-dominated House, seeks to strip Planned Parenthood of any federal funding by declassifying it as a Medicaid provider, he said. Congress has until April 8 to take action on both measures.
At the state level, legislators are debating whether to reauthorize a five-year program slated to end Dec. 31. The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program makes it possible for low-income women, like Henry, to receive a physical exam, Pap smear and a 12-month supply of birth control for as little as $30 to no cost, Gonzales said. Nearly 8,000 women in the county receive those benefits.
“I don’t have $150 or however much the birth control shot is, plus the doctor’s visit,” Henry said. “It’s expensive.”
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
Proponents of the proposed cuts argue eliminating the services would help reduce the deficit, but Gonzales believes otherwise.
The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program, which increased services offered to low-income women in Hidalgo County by 40 percent since 2007, saves the state $10 for every $1 invested, Gonzales said.
In 2008, he added, it helped save $20 million for Texas — the state with the highest number of uninsured women in the country — by cutting down on costs associated with unwanted pregnancies and by diagnosing problems before they became more advanced and expensive to treat.
It’s also less expensive to prevent a pregnancy than to pay for so-called Medicaid babies, Gonzales said.
It takes about $240 to provide a woman with preventive family planning services (birth control) for one year, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.
Meanwhile, it costs more than $16,000 per woman for the delivery and first year’s care of the infant for a pregnancy covered by Medicaid — in Texas, more than half the births are covered by the public insurance program.
“It really would add to the deficit rather than reduce the deficit,” Gonzales said. “So to eliminate a program that saves money to the taxpayers, I don’t think is being responsible.”
Because some Planned Parenthood affiliates provide abortion services, Gonzales said, some advocates wish to see the national organization weakened — through funding cuts — as a way to decrease the number of abortions.
But eliminating access to birth control would only do the opposite, he argued.
The Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County does not offer any abortion services, he said. And by law, funding provided by the state and federal governments cannot be used to fund abortion services.
“It’s politics, I think,” Gonzales said. “And I think they’re targeting women … because it makes no sense to go after programs that save taxpayers money.”
Planned Parenthood: Funding cuts would have major impact on local, low-income women The Monitor