A Texas GOP plan to exclude 40 Planned Parenthood clinics from the state's Texas Woman’s Health Program has lead to fewer claims for birth control and wellness exams as well as lower overall enrollment numbers.
The Affordable Care Act requires health plans to provide mental health services. That means the newly insured will have the option to seek care anywhere they want. This has thrust publicly run mental health clinics into a new landscape of competition.
Mental health providers in Illinois acknowledge that the state is in a dire budget situation. They say they have become more resourceful, finding ways to continue serving their patients and hope that the Affordable Care Act will help their situation.
In the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers sought to mitigate the impact of 2011 budget cuts with the largest financial package for women’s health services in state history. Yet, women’s health advocates have raised concerns that the financing does not go far enough and about abortion restrictions.
The number of claims filed for medical and family planning services in the new state-run Texas Women's Health Program has dropped since the state ousted Planned Parenthood from it and set up its own program without federal financing, according to figures from the Health & Human Services Commission.
The Affordable Care Act was crafted with an ambitious goal of expanding health care coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. But they won’t enroll if they don’t know about available policies or if it’s too cumbersome or confusing to sign up for coverage.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) may be the law of the land, but it looks like Americans' ability to to access the benefits it promises will vary greatly depending on where they live. Only a minority have agreed to implement the federal law as written.
Texas is fertile ground for debate on women’s health issues, as the national attention on state Sen. Wendy Davis’s recent filibuster of controversial regulations revealed. What's ahead for family planning services in the state and the women who depend on the programs?
The Affordable Care Act is stirring up confusion and anger among the patients who visit a Los Angeles clinic dedicated to serving urban-based Native Americans. That's because President Barack Obama's reform has raised a painful question: which tribes get free health care and which have to pay?
This year, there's no political fireworks or high-octane drama like the 2011 fight over women’s health care and abortion in Texas. Democrats will not die on the sword of bringing Planned Parenthood back into the fold, and Republicans will not put up additional barriers to women’s access to care.
