Trump’s Big, Bad Bill put nearly 200 Planned Parenthood clinics at risk of closure by blocking the clinics from being reimbursed by Medicaid
WASHINGTON —U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) joined U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to introduce the Restoring Essential Healthcare Act, legislation to repeal Trump and Republicans’ Big, Bad Bill provision that bans Medicaid reimbursements for health services provided at Planned Parenthood clinics. The Big, Bad Bill provision has already put nearly 200 Planned Parenthood clinics at risk of closure, endangering access to health care for more than two million patients across the country.
The ban on Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood could leave thousands of patients in every state with no place to seek essential reproductive care and other vital health services. Every year, Planned Parenthood provides healthcare to more than two million people, including STI testing, breast exams, birth control, HPV vaccines, mental health screening, and other critical services. Combined with the Trump Administration’s cuts to Title X funding to Planned Parenthood, reproductive health care for millions of patients could be irreparably damaged.
As of Monday, July 28th, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking the Trump Administration from enforcing its ban on Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood. Before the injunction, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains had to cancel nearly 1,000 appointments made by Medicaid patients in New Mexico and Colorado. Thirty-four percent of patients at the Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains were covered by Medicaid in New Mexico last year.
“On top of kicking tens of millions off their health care, Trump and Republicans’ Big, Bad Bill also directly attacks the reproductive health clinics millions rely on. The consequences of this will be deadly. We need to hold Republicans accountable for their cruelty and fight back. This legislation is part of that, seeking to reverse Republicans’ deadly provision and allow Planned Parenthood to receive Medicaid funding to provide cancer screenings, medical testing and treatment, birth control, and other reproductive health services,” said Heinrich. “I will never stop fighting to restore the right to abortion under federal law and protect women’s freedoms to control their own bodies and make the decisions best for their lives, families, and future.”
"President Trump and Congressional Republicans turned their backs on the American people by pushing through their Budget Betrayal, which will strip health coverage from millions and directly targets care at reproductive health clinics across the country,” said Luján. “Across the country, Planned Parenthood plays a vital role in delivering essential health services to millions of Americans, and with the stroke of a pen, the resources needed to provide care were ripped away. That’s why I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing legislation to restore Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood and reverse the attacks on health care embedded in the Republican Budget Betrayal.”
The Restoring Essential Healthcare Act is led by Smith and Murray. Alongside Heinrich and Luján, the legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Angus King (I-Vt.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.). In the U.S. House of Representatives, the legislation is led by U.S. Representatives Laura Friedman (D-Calif.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), and Nikema Williams (D-Ga.).
The text of the bill is here.
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