Republicans cut off Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood. Philadelphia-area clinics are scrambling to maintain services.
New rules in the Republican-backed spending bill signed into law last year prevent the reproductive health and abortion care provider from billing Medicaid for services.
Planned Parenthood clinics in the Philadelphia area expect to lose $3.1 million in Medicaid revenue this year due to funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s signature spending plan.
The deficit puts thousands of low-income people who rely on Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania’s clinics at risk of losing access to reproductive healthcare.
Republicans’ sweeping spending package passed last fall included new rules that prevent the largest reproductive health and abortion care provider in the country from billing Medicaid for services.
Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania is continuing to treat Medicaid patients and absorbing the cost in its service region, which includes Philadelphia, Montgomery, Chester, and Delaware Counties. Leaders called the move unsustainable but necessary.
Planned Parenthood Keystone, which operates health centers in Bucks County, Harrisburg, York, and elsewhere in central Pennsylvania, announced in February that it would no longer be able to take patients with Medicaid unless they were able to pay out of pocket.
Planned Parenthood is considered a safety-net provider of reproductive healthcare for women and men, many of whom would have few other options. About a third of the Southeastern Pennsylvania affiliate’s 34,000 patients were covered by Medicaid, the publicly funded health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities.
The nonprofit’s leaders are seeking $1 million from Philadelphia to bolster services in the city and are boosting fundraising efforts.
Administrators say the organization will need more than a one-time cash infusion to maintain operations long-term without Medicaid funding.
“This isn’t something you can fundraise your way out of,” said Signe Espinoza, vice president of public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania. “We don’t want to turn patients away, but we know that eating the cost is not a sustainable model.”
Medicaid cuts for Planned Parenthood
With roughly 600 health centers nationally, Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the country and a leading resource for family planning, sexual health education, and gynecological care, often operating in underserved communities where patients are more likely to be uninsured or covered by government insurance.
At the Southeastern Pennsylvania network, eight out of 10 patients come for routine exams, STD tests, contraception, family planning guidance, or other reproductive healthcare.
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Republicans who oppose abortion have long sought to cut financial ties to Planned Parenthood, and succeeded in last year’s spending bill. Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill banned health organizations that provide abortion services and that receive more than $800,000 in Medicaid funding from billing Medicaid for any of the care they provide.
Planned Parenthood clinics across the country are now scrambling to absorb major funding cuts on razor-thin budgets. At least 20 health centers have closed due to funding cuts, while others have cut back services and hours.
The national Planned Parenthood Federation of America sued the Trump administration over the new federal rules, but dropped the lawsuit earlier this year.
Affiliates in Baltimore, Boston, and St. Louis have turned to city and state governments for help filing budget gaps. California’s Santa Barbara Planned Parenthood is now offering Botox, a cash-pay service, to boost revenue.
Seeking city funding
At a public hearing event organized by Councilmember Kendra Brooks outside City Hall last week, lawmakers and advocates spoke about the need to preserve reproductive health services in Philadelphia.
Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania operates three clinics in the city that are expected to account for more than half — roughly $1.7 million — of the organization’s Medicaid losses.
“Other health centers are absolutely unable to fill the void if Planned Parenthood can’t see patients,” said Dayle Steinberg, CEO of PPSP. “It will be a devastating loss if we can’t continue to serve communities in need.”
Brooks chairs a city task force formed in response to ongoing threats to abortion and reproductive health services. She and other members are pushing for the $1 million funding requested to be made a permanent line item in the city’s budget.