The last six months have been uncertain ones for Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE), after the Trump administration’s tax and spending bill halted federal funding, including reimbursements for preventative care of Medicaid patients.
The federal dollars paid for routine reproductive health services like contraceptive care, cancer screenings along with testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.
Amanda Skinner, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood affiliate, said the provision is a “back door abortion ban” for states where the procedure is legal, and have expanded Medicaid.
The concern, Skinner said, is that losing that reimbursement money means centers will need to close, or pull back what services they offer. At PPSNE, visit volume and demand for services have remained steady, she said.
“At the same time, what we're hearing from our patients when they call us, when they reach out to us, is fear and concern that we've already closed, that maybe that we won't be able to see them,” Skinner said.
PPSNE’s 2024 report shows that 43% of its patients were on Medicaid or Medicare. Across Connecticut and Rhode Island those unpaid reimbursements for preventative care since H.R. 1 took effect amount to about $1 million a month.
PPSNE had been planning for this, and in the wake of losing funding, leaned on its reserves. But Skinner said the group needs a sustainable solution to continue keeping their services available to the community in the long-term.
“For the large majority of our patients, we're the only health care provider that they see,” Skinner said. “And for years and years, we have been committed to not turning people away based on their ability to pay.”
State steps in
Some temporary relief arrived Thursday when Gov. Ned Lamont announced Connecticut plans to use $8.5 million from its emergency relief fund to make up some of those lost federal reimbursements until early July 2026. There’s also $1.9 million for frozen Title X funding.
The $500 million emergency fund Connecticut legislators approved in the November special session outlines that the money can only be used to respond to federal cuts to programs, such as health care.
Peter Wolfgang, president of Family Institute of Connecticut Action, said Planned Parenthood shouldn’t get the state funds because they provide abortions.
“It is an outrage that is happening and that the public, and its representatives, had no say in it,” Wolfgang said in a statement.
In Connecticut, a person’s legal right to an abortion has been law for decades, according to the state. Since the U.S. Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion three and a half years ago, Skinner says the main feeling is fear.
“A fear that the rights that we have may be reduced, and that even if the rights aren't reduced, that they may not be meaningfully accessible to people,” Skinner said.
A lawsuit Connecticut Attorney General Tong and 22 other attorneys general filed in late July is still tied up in the courts. A U.S. District court recently ordered a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from enforcing the “defund” provision, but the Trump administration challenged the court’s move, according to AG Tong’s office.
Other states including California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington have also designated state funding to the organization to help shoulder the lost Medicaid reimbursement funding, according to Planned Parenthood.
