Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Louisiana Again Notifies Planned Parenthood That Medicaid Funds Will Be Terminated
New Orleans Times-Picayune: DHH Notifies Planned Parenthood Of New Termination Of Medicaid Funding
The Department of Health and Hospitals has notified Planned Parenthood Gulf States the organization is being kicked out of the state's Medicaid program again, this time because of a $4.3 million whistleblower settlement in Texas. This is the second time in two months that Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has notified Planned Parenthood it will lose funding for about 5,200 patients in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. It backed off an attempt to kick Planned Parenthood out of the program without cause after the administration faced aggressive questioning in a federal court hearing over Planned Parenthood's effort to seek an injunction to block the defunding. (Litten, 9/15)
The Associated Press: Assembly Panel Approves Bills Targeting Planned Parenthood
A proposal that attempts to prevent Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin from qualifying for federal grant money has cleared a committee and could be debated by the full Wisconsin state Assembly as soon as next week. The Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday voted 7-4 to pass the proposal, with all Republicans in support and Democrats against. (9/15)
North Carolina Health News: Budget Provision Takes Aim At Planned Parenthood
Buried in page 163 of the 429-page final state budget bill is a seven-line provision limiting the use of state funds for “family planning services, pregnancy prevention activities, and adolescent parenting programs.” The provision doesn’t say the words “Planned Parenthood,” but that was the organization in the sights of budget writers, because the group also provides abortions. If the state budget is passed and signed into law, Planned Parenthood will lose funding for programs in Fayetteville and Wilmington that have helped teens avoid getting sexually transmitted diseases, encouraged them to delay sexual activity and helped teen moms get through high school. (Hoban, 9/16)
The Columbus Post-Dispatch: Charter Schools, Planned Parenthood Top Ohio Lawmakers’ To-Do List
Ohio lawmakers will return this month with a few significant issues left over from the spring, such as a charter-school overhaul bill and some new efforts on unemployment benefits and Planned Parenthood funding. (Siegel, 9/16)
The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Is A Symbol. This Is The Reality Of One Ohio Clinic.
There they were [in a Planned Parenthood health center in Akron, Ohio], in a state whose attorney general had recently opened an investigation of Planned Parenthood, ... and in a universe where Planned Parenthood had again become a symbol for one of the most divisive moral battles of the modern era. ... This clinic sees nearly 7,100 patients a year, most of them young and poor. The clinicians administer 3,400 pregnancy tests, write 2,900 prescriptions for birth control and provide 13,200 screenings for sexually transmitted infections to the women and men walking into a boxy building between a restaurant-supply store and a used-car dealership. Inside the clinicians’ office, a pamphlet on the wall reads “Bomb Threat Checklist.” (Hesse, 9/15)
