Planned Parenthood is suing Missouri over Medicaid. Here’s what patients need to know
The state of Missouri has decided to no longer cover healthcare provided to Medicaid patients at Planned Parenthood’s 11 local health centers. In response, the reproductive health and family planning organization is suing the state, and absorbing the cost of care for its patients.
“Not only does this defunding defy a 2020 state Supreme Court ruling that held that defunding Planned Parenthood through the state’s budget is unconstitutional, it also violates federal Medicaid law,” the organization wrote on Thursday, March 10.
Missouri is the fourth state to ban reimbursements to the group, a move sometimes referred to as “defunding” Planned Parenthood.
Local Planned Parenthood chapters are now calling on the federal government to uphold Medicaid patients’ freedom to choose where they get their family planning services. Last year, Planned Parenthood served more than half of all the patients seeking family planning care through safety net services in Missouri.
Here’s how the defunding plan will impact Missouri patients.
You can still get care at Planned Parenthood at no additional cost
While the lawsuit is underway, Planned Parenthood plans to cover the cost of care for its patients on Medicaid. That means that those with a MO Healthnet healthcare plan can still access the group’s services at no additional cost
“We plan on absorbing all costs for as long as it takes,” said Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.
Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which covers the Kansas City area, echoed this sentiment.
“We’ll see all patients that visit our health center and won’t be passing along costs to the patients, despite the failure of the state of Missouri to reimburse for care,” said spokesperson Anamarie Rebori Simmons. “We ultimately believe the state of Missouri should continue to honor their commitment to MO HealthNet patients and we will continue to seek reimbursement from the state.”
For patients with private insurance, the organization will continue to provide services as usual.
This decision is about healthcare beyond abortion
In Missouri, abortion is never covered under state-run health insurance plans unless the patient’s life is at risk. This ban on reimbursing the health centers doesn’t change that—it just makes providing other types of care to Medicaid patients more expensive for Planned Parenthood.
Patients seek care at Planned Parenthood clinics around KC for accessible and affordable family planning and primary care services.
“[The decision] bar[s] DSS from reimbursing Planned Parenthood for services covered under MO HealthNet… including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and other non-abortion care,” the organization wrote.
A few Planned Parenthood clinics in the area provide abortion services—although the closest one to Kansas City is across the state line in Overland Park. This state decision to stop covering Medicaid services isn’t specifcially about abortion care—instead, it covers all the other healthcare services Planned Parenthood provides.
Do you have more questions about abortion access in Kansas City? Ask the service journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
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