[Pflienews] Fwd: URGENT ACTION ALERT: Your Action Needed to Save Family Planning in 2008 Budget

Sat Feb 23 00:00:04 MST 2008

Pflienews,
this is what the enemy is sending out.
dan slagle

  ---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Planned Parenthood Public Policy Network of WA <
ppaction at ppnetworkwa.org>
Date: Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 3:11 PM
Subject: URGENT ACTION ALERT: Your Action Needed to Save Family Planning in
2008 Budget
To: Dan Slagle <deslagle at gmail.com>

[image: width=]

The Senate needs to know how important family planning is!

Dear Dan,

*We are in a family planning funding emergency.*   We must ensure that $8
million is included in the budget for Washingtonians' basic family health
care.

The House of Representatives released its 2008 Supplemental Budget; it
included $6.9 million for family planning, and the Senate budget will be
coming out any day now.  *We need the Senate budget to beat that number, and
we need your help to make that happen.*

We must make sure that your Senator gets the message:  *Family Planning is
basic, preventative health care.*  By including 8 million dollars in this
year's supplemental budget, Washington State could save nearly 126 million
dollars and ensure that Washington families are healthy families.

<http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/senatebudget08/wu3xdd549mtjm77?>

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):
Your State Senator (if you live in Washington)

Below is the sample letter:

Subject:

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As your constituent, I urge you to support $8 million dollars in the
supplemental budget for family planning services.

Eighty-eight percent of people polled in a recent statewide survey said they
agreed that family planning is a part of basic health care; family planning
saves lives, and is the fiscally responsible thing to do. 8 million dollars
now for this vital preventative care, would likely save nearly 126 million
taxpayer dollars.

Sincerely,

<http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/senatebudget08/wu3xdd549mtjm77?>   Take
Action!

Instructions:
Click here to take
action<http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/senatebudget08/wu3xdd549mtjm77?>on
this issue

Tell-A-Friend:
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
 Tell-a-Friend!<http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/senatebudget08/forward/wu3xdd549mtjm77?>

What's At Stake:

*The Problem:*

Ø      Recent federal policy changes to Washington's Medicaid family
planning waiver program, Take Charge, have restricted access to
services.  *Between
May 2005 and July 2007 there has been a 30% drop in Take Charge enrollment
statewide.  *

Ø      The 30% of low-income Washingtonians who are no longer eligible for
Take Charge family planning services have not gone away.  Some are still
receiving services either on a sliding-fee-for-service pay scale or without
the ability to pay at all, with providers absorbing the cost of these
visits.  Others are simply not receiving services.  *The result is $8
million annually in family planning services that are no longer being
provided through public funds – both patients and providers are suffering.*

* *

Ø      In 2007 Washington's legislature attempted to stem this problem with
a biennial allocation of $5 million for family planning.  Unfortunately,
with a minimum gap of $8 million per year, this funding was spent in the
first year of the biennium with a gap still remaining, and no funding is
available for the second year.*  $8 Million in supplemental budget funding
for family planning is essential to maintain services for low-income
Washingtonians.  *

* *

Ø      Approximately 54% of pregnancies are unintended in Washington,
according to DOH.*  *If 54% of those Washingtonians no longer covered by
Take Charge become pregnant,* it could result in $125.8 million in costs for
pregnancy care.  Covering a minimum level of family planning services for
those no longer covered by Take Charge would cost only $8 million per year.
*  **

Ø      *Washington**'s family planning problem is larger than this year's
budget.*  Family planning is basic health care, and yet it is often left out
of discussions on the health care safety net.  *When some women must become
pregnant before qualifying for publicly funded services, there's clearly a
problem.*  Washington needs *standards*, for who is eligible for family
planning assistance, and what services are covered.  **

* *

*The Solution:*

* *

*Head off the family planning funding emergency!  Ensure that $8 million is
included in the 2008 supplemental budget for low-income Washingtonians'
basic family planning health care!*

**

**

*TALKING POINTS:*

*Family planning is basic health care for men and women*.

Ø      Family planning is more than birth control.  For many individuals,
family planning clinics are their only source of health care and the only
place where they can go to get health referrals, education, cancer
screenings, and disease testing in addition to contraception and pregnancy
testing. **

 **

Ø      Family planning is often left out of conversations on basic health
care.  Today, many low-income women must be pregnant before they qualify for
any public assistance.  We hope that legislators will begin discussions
about how to set basic standards to ensure that low-income people have
access to the services they need to prevent unintended pregnancies and
maintain their reproductive health.  **

* *

*There is a demonstrated need for publicly funded family planning services.*

* *

Ø      The Take Charge Medicaid family planning waiver has provided family
planning services to over 400,000 low income Washingtonians since it began
in July of 2001 (WA State DSHS).

Ø      Effective family planning helped low-income Washington women prevent
40,540 unintended pregnancies in 2006 (WA State Department of Health).

* ** *

*Family planning is cost-effective.  *

* *

Ø      Family planning reduces the number of unintended pregnancies and the
need for abortions.*  *

* *

Ø      It costs approximately $552 a year to cover a full range of family
planning services for each Washingtonian in need, compared to over $14,000
for each Medicaid paid birth (DOH).

Ø      $8 million in the 2008 supplemental budget would cover just over half
of family planning services for the 30% of patients no longer using Take
Charge; much of the rest is subsidized by providers.

Ø      Every tax dollar spent on family planning saves $3.80 in state costs
(Guttmacher Institute, Contraception Counts, Nov. 2006).

*FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:*

*How did you come up with $8 million for your request?*

This number is the MINIMUM amount family planning providers need to maintain
services for low-income Washingtonians.  It represents the average
reimbursement for each patient, each year provided by Take Charge,
multiplied by the number of Washingtonians no longer participating in the
Take Charge program.  While this amount doesn't come close to covering the
actual cost of providing those family planning services – the Guttmacher
Institute reports that Take Charge covers only 54% of the cost of services –
the request is as modest as possible in recognition of the fact that this is
a supplemental budget year.  It also includes just over $100,000 in
administrative costs for Department of Health to distribute the funds to
providers.

*Is this funding just for Planned Parenthood?*

No.  This money is for family planning health care providers across the
state that serve low-income Washingtonians.

*It seems like there's always a family planning "funding emergency"?*

It seems that way to us too, which doesn't make sense since family planning
is basic health care.  That's why we've begun asking questions of people
like legislators, the Governor, Department of Health, and Department of
Social and Health Services about why Washington's family planning programs
are so fragmented.  We hope that Washington will look to the future and
begin addressing the question of why Washington doesn't have standards for
who should be eligible for publicly funded family planning services, and
what services should always be included in basic family planning.

Campaign Expiration Date:
March 15, 2008

   ------------------------------

  If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Planned
Parenthood Washington Action
Team<http://www.ppaction.org/ppaow/join.html?r=07LM-5K1wsdcE>.

  To update your account settings, please click
here<http://www.ppaction.org/ppaow/smp.tcl?nkey=wu3xdd549mtjm77&>.
If you would like to unsubscribe from the Planned Parenthood Washington
Action Team click
here<http://www.ppaction.org/ppaow/remove-domain-direct.tcl?ctx=center&nkey=wu3xdd549mtjm77&>.

  *The Planned Parenthood Public Policy Network leads the public policy
advocacy efforts of five affiliates in Washington state.*

Planned Parenthood of the Inland Northwest <http://www.ppinw.org/>
Planned Parenthood of Western
Washington<http://www.plannedparenthood.org/westernwashington/>

Planned Parenthood of the
Columbia/Willamette<http://www.plannedparenthood.org/ppcw/>
Mount Baker Planned Parenthood <http://www.plannedparenthood.org/mbpp/>
Planned Parenthood Central
Washington<http://www.plannedparenthood.org/centralwa/>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://pfli.org/pipermail/pflienews_pfli.org/attachments/20080222/f306255c/attachment-0001.html 