Planned Parenthood defunding could leave health care gap in county

Each year, about 4,300 Clark County residents receive health care services at Planned Parenthood’s Vancouver center. The vast majority of those services are preventive, including 3,800 sexually transmitted disease tests and contraceptives for 3,035 women last year.

And most of their patients are low-income, enrolled in the Medicaid program or receiving care through the Title X program — the largest federally funded family planning program in the U.S.

Planned Parenthood is the only Title X health clinic in Clark County. And if the House proposal to prohibit funding to Planned Parenthood becomes law, the future of that program in Clark County could be at stake, said Stacy Cross, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette.

“That’s a program that’s clearly in jeopardy,” she said.

The American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives in May would prevent Medicaid reimbursements for services provided at Planned Parenthood clinics. The Hyde Amendment, passed by Congress in 1976, already prohibits federal funding for abortion services.

When people hear about proposals to “defund” Planned Parenthood, they seem to believe the organization receives a check in the mail from the federal government to be used as they see fit, Cross said. But what it actually means is the health centers would no longer receive payment for services provided to those with Medicaid coverage, such as cancer screenings and STD testing, while other medical clinics providing the same services would be reimbursed, she said.

And, given Planned Parenthood’s large Medicaid client population, that would likely mean closures of clinics across the country, Cross said.

“You can’t lose potentially 50 percent of your budget and keep all of your doors open,” she said. “We are going to be different if we lose that much of our money, without a doubt.”

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, did not vote for the American Health Care Act, but she does support ending funding for Planned Parenthood.

“I am totally committed to ensuring women and families in Southwest Washington continue to have access to health care services,” Herrera Beutler said in a written statement to The Columbian. “There are health clinics here that serve the same population as Planned Parenthood in providing non-abortion health care services, while being better stewards of federal tax dollars. That’s why I’ve supported strong federal funding for these 16 other Community Health Centers located across Southwest Washington that offer a multitude of health care options specifically to women including HIV tests, breast and cervical cancer screenings, pregnancy tests, and other general women’s health services.”

In Clark County, there’s only one federally qualified health center, Sea Mar Community Health Centers. Those clinics receive higher reimbursement rates for Medicaid services.

Many supporters of proposals to eliminate Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood point to these clinics as alternative options for Planned Parenthood patients. But Bob Marsalli, CEO of the Washington Association of Community and Migrant Health Centers, said it’s unrealistic to think community health centers could fill that gap.

“That would be a lot of folks for any community’s safety net to absorb,” Marsalli said. “The larger question is why would we want to disrupt the safety net by eliminating a key provider who patients have developed relationships with?”

The organization, he said, supports keeping the safety net during this time of uncertainty and instability in health care. Furthermore, moving funding from one safety net provider to another doesn’t improve the health system, Marsalli said.

“For Planned Parenthood to go away, that would create a gaping hole in the safety net that we’d all have to scramble to fill,” he said. “We need to make sure the safety net is adequately funded to provide health care to some of the most vulnerable people.”

Planned Parenthood leaders have concerns that go beyond their own organization. The Trump administration’s proposal to broaden the number of employers exempt from including birth control in their health plans could affect the 55 million women across the country who have been accessing birth control without copays, Cross said.

In Vancouver, more than 3,000 women received contraception at Planned Parenthood. Since the election, the Vancouver health center has seen a 37 percent increase in appointments for birth control implants and a 31 percent increase for intrauterine devices, Cross said.

Limiting access to birth control and other preventive services provided at Planned Parenthood won’t just hurt the women utilizing those services, Cross said.

“If you impact women and families, you really impact the health of all of our communities,” she said.