Texas Republicans May Do Away With Women's Health Program

by: Katherine Haenschen

Thu Dec 15, 2011 at 08:37 AM CST

While on one hand this is good news for women, as the Federal decision extends the Medicaid WHP for three months, the bad news is that Republicans may decide to end the Women's Health Program entirely out of spite.

From the Texas Tribune:

Fran Hagerty, chief executive of the Women's Health and Family Planning Association of Texas, characterized the federal decision - which extends the program for three months while state officials decide whether to back down from their request - as "the ugliest possible scenario." She fears the state will opt to end the Women's Health Program rather than allow Planned Parenthood to continue to be part of it, and that 130,000 low-income women may end up losing out on cancer screenings and birth control.

The Tribune doesn't make it painfully, obviously clear that it's Republicans who are behind these efforts to drastically impede women's access to health care. So I will!

This is another effort by Texas Republicans to deliberately and aggressively destroy comprehensive women's health care in Texas. This is not just about stopping abortion: this is about preventing women and children from receiving health care, by shutting down one of the major providers of care to low-income women: Planned Parenthood. Texas Republicans are trying to make women's health care a partisan issue, and standing firmly against women having the full range of providers and services available to them.

What does our Governor have to say about it? Again, the Tribune quotes Fran Hagerty:

Perry is "blaming the feds and saying that this money was going to go to abortions. That's a complete lie," Hagerty said. "This is a federal program, and they have any right to say you have to let every qualified provider participate. You can't pick and choose who you like and don't like."

Planned Parenthood is at the crux here not only because they provide abortions, but because 44% of the Medicaid WHP program funds to go the provider, which is used for basic health care and family planning. Pap smears, breast exams, well-woman visits, STD screenings, birth control prescriptions. Planned Parenthood is simply the largest service provider in Texas through the Women's Health Program.

Republicans have a solution: Planned Parenthood can just stop providing abortions! Then everyone wins, except women and their pesky right to choose!

More below the jump:  

Every day we hear the same health care myths from politicians and industry alike ...

by: Blue_in_Guadalupe

Mon Jul 13, 2009 at 10:00 AM CDT

Myth - The U.S. has the finest health care in the world.
Fact - If that were so we wouldn't rank 24th in life expectancy according to the World Health Organization. "Basically, you die earlier and spend more time disabled if you're an American rather than a member of most other advanced countries," according to Christopher Murray, M.D., Ph.D., Director of WHO's Global Programme on Evidence for Health Policy.

Myth - We don't want a government run health care system like Canada where it takes a year to get a hip replacement.
Fact - Some hospitals in some provinces do take that long but many if not most don't. We don't really know for sure how long it takes in the U.S. since there is no standard for nor central collection point for this data. But let's assume that as the opposition to health care reform claims hip replacements only have waiting lists of six weeks in the U.S., guess who pays for the vast majority, none other than Medicare the federally run single payer system.

Myth - If we have government run health care then health care will be rationed.
Fact - Health care is rationed now in the U.S. to a much greater degree than any other developed country.

Myth - Government run health care won't let you choose your doctors.
Fact - Private insurance companies don't let you choose your doctor, if the doctor you wish to see isn't in your network, either you don't see them or you pay the bill yourself.

Myth - Government run health care will tell your doctors which medications they can prescribe.
Fact - Private insurance already tells your doctors which medications they can prescribe by limiting what they will pay for or how high your co-pay will be.

Texas Senator Dan Patrick at Hooters

by: Burnt Orange Report

Mon May 07, 2007 at 02:02 PM CDT