Federal Government's Demands On Calif. Family Planning Program 'Wasteful,' Editorial Says

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 08 Oct 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The federal government's demand that California change the way it calculates the number of undocumented immigrants in its Medicaid-funded family planning program, called Family PACT, or lose federal funding is "wasteful," a Los Angeles Times editorial says.

According to the Times, under federal rules, Family PACT program funds can be spent only on legal residents, and California picks up the cost for serving undocumented immigrants. California uses a statistical formula to calculate the number of illegal immigrants who use the program, the editorial says. Now, the Bush administration is giving the state 30 days to switch to a method that requires residency determinations for each client, which the editorial calls a "ridiculously inefficient arrangement that would increase the state's costs by an estimated 40%" (Los Angeles Times, 10/6). The federal government imposed a 5% penalty on the program beginning last week until the state agrees to the new rules on how to count undocumented immigrants who use services in the program. The federal government contributes $315 million of the program's $432 million annual cost (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/3).

According to the editorial, "By helping impoverished women avoid unwanted pregnancies, Family PACT has helped reduce abortion rates in the state and saves California and the federal government $1.4 billion in publicly funded maternity care, welfare and schools." The editorial continues, "Immigration is a responsibility of the federal government, not the state." It concludes, "True, the federal government shouldn't be picking part of the tab for 86% of the women aided by this valuable program. It should be helping to pay for all of them" (Los Angeles Times, 10/6).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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