Judges OK plans to defund Planned Parenthood. What does that mean for Idaho?
A panel of appeals court judges reversed a lower court’s decision that prevented pulling federal funding from Planned Parenthood, allowing the federal government to withhold Medicaid dollars from the nonprofit.
Planned Parenthood leaders say the ruling will make health care more expensive for some Idahoans and put strain on an already stressed medical system in the state.
Three judges on the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s July injunction, which staved off a provision from President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation bill that bars the reproductive and sexual health nonprofit from accepting Medicaid funding for one year.
Officials with Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky, which includes Idaho’s sole brick-and-mortar clinic in Meridian and its telehealth services across the state, said Tuesday that Medicaid patients will feel the impacts of the decision immediately.
The nonprofit sees around 7,500 patients in Idaho annually, and around 15% use Medicaid as their insurance. Across the U.S., about half of Planned Parenthood patients use Medicaid, according to reporting from PBS News.
“The court’s ruling is a devastating blow for patients who use Medicaid and depend on Planned Parenthood for their health care,” said Rebecca Gibron, the region’s CEO, in a news release. “Stripping Planned Parenthood from the country’s Medicaid program puts essential care out of reach for more than a million patients, disproportionately impacting Black communities, Indigenous communities, other people of color, rural communities, and people with low incomes.”
Medicaid patients can continue to use Planned Parenthood services in Idaho at no cost through the end of September, according to the news release. But the nonprofit said those patients will have to pay out of pocket starting in October.
Planned Parenthood officials said they are “actively working to find ways to reduce costs” but noted that Medicaid patients’ care will be more expensive.
Planned Parenthood clinicians told the Idaho Statesman during a health center tour last month that their most common appointments are for birth control consultations and prescriptions; sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment; placement of long-term contraceptives like intrauterine devices; and OBGYN and pregnancy care visits. They also offer vasectomies, menopause management and breast cancer screening.
Planned Parenthood officials said blocking access to health care options for Medicaid patients could put more pressure on Idaho’s already stressed health care system. The state has lost one-third of its OBGYNs since strict abortion bans went into effect following the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
