Ciscomani SILENT While Arizona Patients Lose Access to Cancer Screenings, Blood Tests, and Reproductive Care

On top of the more than 342,000 Arizonans estimated to lose health insurance, the five Arizona hospitals that could close, and nearly 300,000 Arizona households that could lose food assistance, the Arizona Mirror is reporting that Planned Parenthood is no longer accepting patients enrolled in Arizona’s Medicaid program because of Ciscomani’s Big, Ugly Bill.

REMINDER: Planned Parenthood provides broad health care services  from cancer screenings, to blood tests, to birth control. Federal law already prohibits Planned Parenthood from using federal Medicaid funds to pay for abortion services with limited exceptions.

Ciscomani’s silence is deafening – but unsurprising. Ciscomani has a clear track record of opposing women’s health care:

• Ciscomani backed a total abortion ban with no exceptions and IVF ban in 2022.
• Ciscomani voted to jail doctors and nurses who provide reproductive health care.
• Ciscomani voted to restrict the sale of safe, affordable abortion medication.
• Ciscomani repeatedly voted to block servicemembers, military families, and veterans from accessing reproductive health care.
• Ciscomani refused to take a position on the VA’s recent nationwide abortion ban.

Read the coverage for yourself…

Arizona Mirror: Planned Parenthood stops accepting Arizona Medicaid as Trump ban takes effect

• Arizonans enrolled in AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program, will no longer be able to visit their local Planned Parenthood clinic for an STI test or a cancer screening starting this week. 
• The organization’s decision to stop accepting Medicaid coverage comes as a provision in President Donald Trump’s fiscal plan barring abortion providers from receiving Medicaid funding goes into effect Wednesday.
• It is widely viewed as an attempt to defund the organization.
• One-third of the organization’s revenue comes from state or federal funding, which pays for reproductive health care care services, like contraception and pregnancy tests.
• Federal law prevents Medicaid funding from being used to reimburse providers for abortions, except for in limited cases involving rape, incest or life-threatening emergencies.
• In 2021, approximately 1 in 10 women used Medicaid to receive family planning services at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
• Roughly 1.9 million Arizonans, one in four people, receive health care through the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.
• The organization estimates the prohibition could result in the closure of as many as 200 clinics and jeopardize care for more than 1.1 million Medicaid patients.

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