The Oklahoma Health Care Authority announced it will be ending its contracts with two Planned Parenthood organizations. This means the funds for the organizations will be cut off.
Nico Gomez, Oklahoma’s Health Care Authority Chief Executive Officer, said that the agency warned its plans, in February, to the Central Oklahoma organization and the Arkansas and Eastern Oklahoma.
Both affiliates will have to give its members alternative arrangements, since they are going to work until June 29, which, according to Gomez, will give them enough time to find solutions.
Contracts ending without a cause
Gomez said that the intention to end the contracts was made under the parties’ agreements, and without a particular cause. This means that both Planned Parenthood and the agency could terminate the contracts.
Republican Governor Mary Falling asked Gomez to cancel the contracts because she said there were high rate billing errors going on with Planned Parenthood. However, the organization said the problems were being exaggerated.
Kansas also cut off funds
Kansas health department sent a letter to Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, on Tuesday, saying that, next week, it would cut off Medicaid funding. Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed a bill that will stop taxpayer dollars to fund the organization.
The affiliate announced on Wednesday that it will be filing a federal lawsuit over against the state Department of Health and Environment’s top administrator, Medicaid. The St. Louis Planned Parenthood is also filing in the lawsuit because its Joplin, Missouri, clinic sometimes serves Kansas’ Medicaid users.
What is Planned Parenthood?
Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health services to Americans, mostly low-income families. It operates clinics in the country providing services like cervical and breast cancer screenings, birth control, sexually transmitted infection treatment and testing, vaccinations and immunizations, and family practice services. Only in Oklahoma, the clinics do not provide abortions.
Source: KAKE