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Fast Facts
Low-Income Women's Access to Family Planning
How can low-income women access costly family-planning services? |
All women should have access to basic reproductive health care regardless of their income, but the high cost of health care and health insurance makes family planning services unavailable to many women. Title X is the federal program that provides essential funding to family planning clinics that serve many low-income women. Also, some states have improved coverage for family planning services by applying for and receiving a waiver from the federal government's Medicaid program. States that obtain a waiver are able to expand certain eligibility requirements for Medicaid-funded family planning services and thus provide more women with access to this basic medical care. |
CURRENT STATE LAWS
27 states currently provide certain low-income women coverage for Medicaid-funded reproductive health care services through a waiver obtained from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid: AL, AZ, AR, CA, DE, FL, IL, IA, LA, MD, MI, MN, MS, MO, NM, NY, NC, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI, WY.
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CURRENT FEDERAL LAWSTitle X of the Public Health Service Act grants federal funds to family planning clinics that provide reproductive health services to low-income women, uninsured women, and women who cannot qualify for Medicaid. For many women, Title X clinics provide the only basic health care that they receive. |
2008 FEDERAL LEGISLATION
The Prevention First Act contains a number of preventive-health and education measures designed to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and, therefore, the need for abortion. Among other provisions, this bill includes provisions that would increase funding for the national family planning program, Title X, and expand Medicaid family planning services to cover more low-income women. Pro-choice lawmakers have also introduced legislation that would make more low-income working women eligible for certain Medicaid-funded programs, thus creating parity in eligibility for birth care and family-planning services. |
2008 OTHER FEDERAL ACTIVITY | |
