Affordable health care is at risk for millions of Kentuckians
Republished from Kentucky Lantern
Accessing quality care in Kentucky is a daily challenge. The state is ranked ninth worst in the country for overall health and sixth worse in overall health for women and children.
Planned Parenthood has been a trusted safety net provider in Kentucky since 1932, helping fill gaps in a state where there are already far too few options for essential care, providing services like birth control, wellness exams and preventive screenings. Thousands of people, 52% of whom live under the federal poverty line, see us every year in Louisville and Lexington, often traveling great distances from across the state to receive care. Yet today, these critical services for Kentuckians are under attack at every level of government.
Title X is under attack: The Trump administration is withholding tens of millions of dollars of Title X funding from Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide, including here in Kentucky. This attack on the nation’s only family planning program will lead to more than 3,500 Kentuckians with low incomes facing increased barriers to care — or the possible loss of their health care options altogether.
Title X funds a wide range of essential health services for people who often rely on Planned Parenthood as their sole provider for care. For many of our patients, care supported by Title X funding may be the only affordable option.
Medicaid is also at risk: Politicians are spreading exaggerations and falsehoods, trivializing the successes of Medicaid and working hard to strip affordable health care away from those who need it most. In Congress, it has been widely reported that Republican leaders are weighing enormous cuts to Medicaid to pay for an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
In Kentucky, Planned Parenthood is a key provider of essential care for Medicaid recipients, which covers 45% of births statewide.
At the same time, last week the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case out of South Carolina that threatens Planned Parenthood’s role in Medicaid. Federal law requires that Medicaid include “any qualified provider” in the program. But in South Carolina, lawmakers are attempting to cut Planned Parenthood out, solely because of its association with abortion care.
If the Supreme Court allows states to target a trusted provider solely based on politics, it’s a safe bet that Kentucky will follow suit. Since 2017, the state has prohibited spending state dollars outside Medicaid on any Planned Parenthood services. They’ve also passed recent bills targeting other parts of Medicaid, including work requirements and gender-affirming care. Carving us out of Medicaid altogether will make the state less free and less healthy. Inevitably, Kentucky would experience more unintended pregnancies, missed cancer diagnoses and untreated sexually transmitted infections.
If any of these efforts succeed, the consequences for Kentucky will be catastrophic. The state simply cannot afford to lose Planned Parenthood’s services. If Congress cuts Medicaid funding, or if Kentucky copies South Carolina to block Medicaid patients from accessing Planned Parenthood, this combined with the Title X cuts mean other providers will not be able to absorb the patient load.
The politicians pushing for Medicaid and Title X cuts and blocking free choice of patients to choose Planned Parenthood don’t seem to care. They also don’t care that because of the harmful Hyde amendment, Title X and Medicaid already don’t cover abortions. What they do care about is punishment: punishing Planned Parenthood, punishing our patients, and punishing people with low incomes — all to appease their anti-abortion backers.
To our patients, please know that we are fighting this every step of the way — no matter what. Medicaid and Title X are critical programs in Kentucky and across the country, and if politicians do the right thing, they can continue to be for years to come.
Rebecca Gibron is the CEO for Planned Parenthood in Kentucky.
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