Texas lawmakers are asking the federal government to return millions of dollars in Medicaid funding it relinquished when it excluded Planned Parenthood from a state family planning program for low-income women, reports The New York Times.
Here are four things to know about the issue.
1. The state family planning program, now known as Healthy Texas Women, provides contraception and screenings for cancer, HIV and STDs, as well as additional screening and treatment to low-income women between the ages of 15 and 44. The program previously relied on state and federal funding to continue operations.
2. In 2013, officials sought to cut out providers from the program that voluntarily "perform[ed] or promot[ed] elective abortions" and refused to contract or affiliate with providers that did so, including Planned Parenthood, according to the report.
3. Once Texas excluded Planned Parenthood from the family planning program, the federal government declined to provide Medicaid funding for the program because under federal law, states must give Medicaid enrollees their pick of "any willing provider," reports NYT. Federal funds for the program equated to about $35 million annually.
4. Texas is now asking President Donald Trump's administration to restore Medicaid funding, as it hopes to make Healthy Texas Women a Medicaid waiver program again, according to the report, which cites the state's draft waiver application.
Read the full report here.