Obama Administration moves to protect health care for millions

PROVIDENCE – The Obama administration on Dec. 14 finalized a new regulation to protect birth control, cancer screening and other basic health care for more than 4 million people across the country, including more than 70,000 people in Connecticut and Rhode Island, according to a press statement from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.

Under this rule, patients can access care from qualified health care providers, including Planned Parenthood and other reproductive health care providers, and states are barred from blocking people from accessing care at a health center because such a center also provides safe, legal abortions.

According to PPSNE, the rule earned broad support; of the approximately 145,000 responses to the request for public comment, 91 percent were positive.

“The Obama administration is making sure no one stands in the way of the care people need. For many people, not being able to access care at a Planned Parenthood health center means that they do not receive care,” Judy Tabar, PPSNE president and CEO, said in the statement. “Every person deserves access to quality, affordable health care from a provider they know and trust. It is time to stop political attacks – no one should have their basic health care taken away.”

- Advertisement -

Title X, the country’s family planning program, is designed to ensure access to basic, preventive reproductive health care for every person, regardless of his/her residence, income or access to health insurance or not. With this rule, individuals most in need – those with very low incomes or without health insurance – will have access to essential health care, including cancer screenings, birth control, well-woman exams and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment.

Thirteen of PPSNE’s 18 health centers receive funding through Title X and deliver care to nearly 40,000 patients annually, many of whom would not have access to health care services but for the Title X family planning program, PPSNE reported. Title X funds have never been – and cannot be –used for abortions.

However, the rule’s viability is uncertain, given the highly conservative views of Vice President-elect Mike Pence and President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services Rep. Tom Price regarding women’s reproductive health rights.

“President Obama has cemented his legacy as a champion for women’s health. This rule protects birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and other health care for millions of people. Yet this fight is not over,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in the statement. “We are deeply concerned about the future of health care access in this country with extremists like Mike Pence and Tom Price at the helm. We will not back down, and we will continue to fight for our patients’ access to care. Every person deserves the right to control their own bodies, their own health, and their own well-being without politicians getting in the way.”

Planned Parenthood health centers care for approximately 1.5 million patients through Title X – roughly one third of the more than 4 million people served by the program. Six in 10 women who access care from a family planning health center consider it their main source of health care. For many patients across the country, Planned Parenthood health centers are the only places they can turn to for reproductive health care.

Every year, nearly 70,000 women, men and young people rely on PPSNE for convenient and high-quality care, more than 90 percent of which is preventive, the nonprofit agency reported.

The new rule will be published Dec. 19, at https://federalregister.gov/d/2016-30276.

No posts to display