A Poison Pill for Planning Agencies

by: Barbara Buono

Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 05:42:30 PM EDT

When Governor Christie laid out "a new course" for New Jersey in his budget address, he failed to mention that this course would pave right over the long, hard-fought progress we have made to erase health disparities for low-income families.  

The services these agencies offer are invaluable and yet the Governor has proposed eliminating the entirety of the $7.5 million subsidy they receive from the state.  While I find this funding cut disturbing, it is not altogether surprising.  After pouring through the litany of proposed budget cuts, a theme has clearly emerged whereby those being asked to sacrifice the most are those who can least afford it.  

Women's health cannot be held hostage by ideological opinions and misinformation.  The naysayers often like to pigeon hole agencies like Planned Parenthood as merely a provider of abortion services.

Nothing could be further from the truth.  First and foremost, state funds are not used to provide abortion services.

But more importantly, family planning agencies serve as the primary provider of comprehensive health care services for many people. For nearly 140,000 patients, family planning agencies are their only link to routine gynecological exams; prenatal care; screenings for high blood pressure, anemia, diabetes, sexually transmitted infections, and breast and cervical cancer; as well as critical education and outreach.  

I, for one, relied on Planned Parenthood throughout college as my primary health care provider.  Given the difficult economic times we are in, this is not uncommon today for women, both young and old, and the unemployed in particular.  

Right now, nearly 400,000 of our state's residents are in need of subsidized family planning services and over one million are uninsured.  Last year, family planning health centers in New Jersey provided reproductive and preventive health care to 126,903 women and 9,461 men; breast examinations to 70,506 women; and pap tests to 65,252 women.  Overall, they served 97,129 women and men without health insurance.

The Governor's proposed funding cut means 40,000 of these patients will not be seen, some health centers may close and our hospitals will bear the burden of these consequences through increased charity care cases and more expensive services that could have been avoided by simple preventative care.

New Jersey has long been a pioneering state when it comes to innovative health care services.  We created the model for Medicaid reform.  We successfully fought the efforts of the Bush administration to restrict access to health insurance for low-income families.  And now, when the federal government just this week passed sweeping health care reforms that include an increased emphasis on preventative care, we stand in stark contrast as one of only seven states in the nation that will not be providing funding to family planning agencies this year.

In these difficult fiscal times, cutting budget items for family planning would put our most vulnerable at serious risk while ultimately costing the state more.  The numbers speak for themselves - for every $1 spent on family planning services, $4 in Medicaid dollars are saved.

As the state struggles with an unprecedented economic downturn, we cannot afford to abandon our moral compass.  Tough decisions must be made with a measure of compassion and an equal dose of practicality.  Eliminating funding for family planning agencies is a poison pill none of us can afford to swallow.