Planned Parenthood of MA: Supreme Court Medicaid ruling ‘tied together' with Trump spending bill
That means health care services such as cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing would not be covered if they were obtained at Planned Parenthood — in a state that decided to go that direction.
On Thursday, Planned Parenthood executives in Massachusetts said care and access will remain the same for the foreseeable future in the Bay State, a staunch protector of reproductive rights.
But the Supreme Court ruling sets 'a dangerous precedent' that other states are expected to follow, MaryRose Mazzola, the executive director of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts, said.
And it comes packaged with what's transpiring in the federal budgeting process.
'It's just devastating, especially compounded by what we see going through Congress,' Mazzolla said. 'We see this all as one piece, tied together with the spending bill.'
Read more: On Dobbs anniversary, Mass. pols warn of attack on abortion rights in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'
In the background of the Supreme Court ruling is President Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' that includes language that would ban insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act from covering abortion care in certain states, according to an analysis by the National Women's Law Center.
The center said the disruption in insurance coverage 'could ultimately lead all insurers to drop abortion coverage for all Americans – even those who get their health insurance through their employers.'
Mazzola said MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, gets about half of its funding from federal Medicaid dollars. If the bill were signed as is, Planned Parenthood in the state would lose approximately $14 million a year.
'Anyone on public health insurance would not be able to visit a Planned Parenthood, period,' Mazzola said.
Read more: Mass. lawmaker asks Trump to keep strollers, cribs out of his trade war
Medicaid coverage for abortion is already limited by the Hyde Amendment, but some states, like Massachusetts, use their own funding to expand coverage.
The 'Big Beautiful Bill' would effectively defund Planned Parenthood by blocking Medicaid reimbursements, according to Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
Planned Parenthood serves 30,000 patients in the state, and about 40% of them are on Medicaid.
During a press conference on Monday in Boston, Lee said if Trump signs the bill in its current form, it would 'wipe out' nearly half of Planned Parenthood's revenue while blocking 'thousands from care.'
The bill passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House by a single vote in May and is now before the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, which is widely expected to amend the bill and return it to the House before it can go to Trump.
Read More: MASS.-ive Impact: What Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' means to you | John L. Micek
Lawmakers are moving the bill across Capitol Hill under a process known as 'reconciliation,' which requires a simple majority vote. All told, the bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion over 10 years.
In Massachusetts, the bill would cost the state's health care system $1.75 billion and strip coverage for about 250,000 people, according to the Healey administration.
In a statement Thursday responding to the Supreme Court ruling, Lee said while it doesn't have an immediate impact on Massachusetts, it is 'dangerous' and 'builds on this Court's record of empowering politicians to decide where and what kind of health care people are able to access, when those personal decisions should be made by patients and their doctors.'
In South Carolina, the state at the center of the ruling, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster celebrated the outcome, saying they 'took a stand to protect the sanctity of life.'
MassLive Politics Editor John L. Micek contributed to this story.
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