Support Legislation to Expand Medicaid Coverage of Family Planning

EXPANDING COVERAGE OF MEDICAID FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES WOULD:

Reduce the Number of Unintended Pregnancies

• The U.S. has one of the highest unintended pregnancy rates and the highest teen pregnancy rate among most developed countries.  Each year, there are three million unintended pregnancies, about half of which end in abortion.
  
• Currently, states are required to provide pregnancy-related care to women with incomes at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, and many states extend that to 185 percent of the federal poverty level and beyond.  Closing the gap between pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage and coverage of contraceptive-related services will help 500,000 women avoid unplanned pregnancy each year.

Help Low-Income Women Access the Care They Need

• Low-income women are far more likely to have an unintended pregnancy because of their lack of access to health care.  In fact, a low-income woman is four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy, five times as likely to have an unintended birth, and three times as likely to have an abortion as her higher-income counterpart.
  
• The Unintended Pregnancy Reduction Act would take an important step toward improving access to critical health care services by providing coverage of Medicaid family planning services to women and men up to the same income level used to determine eligibility for pregnancy-related care.

Save State and Federal Government Money

• Family planning services have historically been recognized by the Medicaid program as especially important and cost-effective services — which is why the federal government gives states an enhanced match rate for family planning services and supplies (the federal government pays states 90 percent of the cost).
  
• Every dollar spent on family planning services saves three dollars in pregnancy and birth-related costs for Medicaid alone.
  
• A 2003 federal government-funded evaluation of six states with expanded access to Medicaid-funded family planning services found significant cost savings in each state as a result of the expansion.   According to the Guttmacher Institute, this legislation would build on the success of these states by saving $1.5 billion dollars annually after the first three years of implementation.
  
• Currently 26 states have expanded access to family planning and provide millions of women with health care, all while leading to substantial cost savings.

Help States Avoid the Cumbersome Waiver Approval and Renewal Process

• The Unintended Pregnancy Reduction Act helps states avoid the unnecessary expense, delay, and red tape related to applying for, or renegotiating, family planning waivers with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

SUPPORT THE UNINTENDED PREGNANCY REDUCTION ACT

For more information, please contact Planned Parenthood’s Government Relations Department at 202-973-4848.