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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 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. |
2009 FEDERAL ACTIONThe 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 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 also included a provision in health-reform bills that would allow states to expand access to Medicaid family-planning services for low-income women without having to obtain a waiver. The House and Senate both passed versions of the legislation incorporating this measure; at the time of this site's launch, Congress had not completed this bill. |
2009 OTHER FEDERAL ACTIVITY | |
