Planned Parenthood of Northern New England says it would lose millions in Medicaid reimbursement under the reconciliation bill passed last week by U.S. House Republicans. The organization says the cuts are an attempt to shutter its clinics, which would have devastating consequences for patients.
Planned Parenthood serves more than 7,000 Maine patients a year, and nearly a third are enrolled in Medicaid.
The bill would block health providers who offer abortions from participating in Medicaid. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England CEO Nicole Clegg says that would amount to a $3.5 million loss in annual reimbursements. And that's on top of $1.7 million in federal Title X funds President Donald Trump is withholding.
"I don't know what we'll do," Clegg says. "I mean, when you look at the combination of the impact of losing Title X and then losing reimbursements for Medicaid services, that's almost half of our patient revenue. Like, cut our budget in half. That's what we're talking about."
Clegg says Planned Parenthood would also be affected by cuts to cost sharing reductions for marketplace insurance plans that cover abortions. In Maine, state law requires private plans to cover the service.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree joined Planned Parenthood to denounce the bill in a roundtable Wednesday in Portland. She pointed out that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that defunding abortion providers would actually cost taxpayers $300 million because of the loss of preventive care.
More broadly, Pingree says all Mainers will be impacted by Medicaid cuts under the "Big Beautiful Bill".
She says everyone relies on hospitals, many of which are hanging on by a thread. But hospitals will have to absorb more charity care if fewer patients are covered by Medicaid.
"It is a very big, bad bill. It will be bad for Maine," Pingree says. "It will really hurt working families. It will really hurt those people who struggle to make ends meet every day, but it will cost everybody something, somehow."
