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“A short-sighted decision”: Rodríguez on Women’s Health Program decision

February 24th, 2012

Austin — Today, state Senator José Rodríguez released the following statement in response to the ruling by Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs to exclude Planned Parenthood from the Women’s Health Program (WHP).

Senator Rodríguez’s statement is as follows:

“I am extremely disappointed in Commissioner Suehs’ ruling, which will likely end Texas’ participation in the Women’s Health Program. As a result of a short-sighted decision driven wholly by politics and not by common sense, 130,000 women will no longer have access to lifesaving cancer screenings, annual exams, birth control, and countless other health care services.

“As the single largest provider of care within the WHP, Planned Parenthood providers have been critical to the program’s success. Over the life of the program, nearly 50 percent of the women who received services through the WHP relied on a Planned Parenthood health center for their screenings and exams.

“The Women’s Health Program in Texas has demonstrated that family planning programs can be tremendously successful from a public health as well as economic perspective. In addition to potentially devastating health impacts on women in the state, Texas will lose nearly $40 million in federal funding as a result of this decision.

“During this past legislative session, I strongly opposed legislation barring affiliates of abortion providers from the WHP. Ultimately, these bills did not have enough support to pass; this agency ruling clearly subverts the will of the Texas Legislature.

“Shortly after these administrative changes were proposed in August 2011, I wrote to Commissioner Suehs to urge him to withdraw these amendments as HHSC likely does not have sufficient authority to create a rule barring affiliates of abortion providers from participating in the WHP. In addition, based on past U.S. Supreme Court decisions, I believe this ruling ultimately will be found unconstitutional by the courts.

“This decision will have devastating, long-term effects on our state and most importantly, on the health of many Texas women—mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts—who have relied on this important program to access critical preventative health care.”

The purpose of the Women’s Health Program is to reduce expenditures for Medicaid-paid births while decreasing the number of infant deaths and premature and low birth weight deliveries attributable to closely spaced pregnancies. The federal government pays for 90 percent of the program’s costs and the state pays the remaining 10 percent. In the first year of the Women’s Health Program in Texas, approximately 4,390 births were averted, and the reduction in total federal and state Medicaid costs was estimated to be $45 million. In 2009, the second year of the program, approximately 5,726 births were averted; HHSC estimated the savings to federal and state Medicaid costs to be $63 million.