As of Friday, Maine Family Planning will no longer provide primary care, which it offers at its clinics in Presque Isle, Houlton, and Ellsworth.
The nonprofit announced at the beginning of October it could no longer afford to continue due to the loss of $2 million in annual Medicaid reimbursements. Congress blocked health care providers who also offer abortions from participating in the low income insurance program in July.
Maine Family Planning nurse practitioner Heather Curran says primary care was introduced to the clinics over the past decade when it became clear that many patients used family planning as their only health service.
"They would just come in for their gynecological exam, or, you know, a few problems here and there," Curran says. "They really weren't seeing a primary care. So we identified that these people needed a more comprehensive health care."
Curran says she's worried that some patients may not seek primary care elsewhere.
"There really is a need for the services like we had here where, you know, people have had some kind of trauma or some reason why it's difficult for them to talk to a provider," Curran says. "And we really had the time here to sit down with them and explain things and kind of encourage them to get the care they needed."
She says Maine Family Planning is working to connect its roughly 800 primary care patients to other providers. The clinics will continue to offer reproductive health services.
An ongoing lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights seeks to restore Medicaid funding to Maine Family Planning.
