Posted on 08/02/2015 5:41:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Perhaps we’d muddle through as a republic if the federal government stopped using Planned Parenthood as a contractor, but not everyone in Congress is convinced. As the Senate moves to debate whether to end federal subsidies for the abortion industry leader, Susan Collins wonders where women will go to get “women’s health services”:
Republicans have seized on a series of controversial undercover videos that show officials at the abortion rights organization discussing the price of fetal tissue to argue that all federal funding should be cut off from Planned Parenthood.
But even members of McConnell’s party have their doubts that community health centers and other public health groups could fill the gap.
“The problem is, in my state and many others, Planned Parenthood is the primary provider of women’s health services in certain parts of my state,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who said she is likely to vote against the bill. “So I don’t know how you would ensure that all of the patients of Planned Parenthood could be absorbed by alternative care providers.”
The Hill also mentions a study from George Washington University that raised the same question three years ago, when Republicans pushed to defund Planned Parenthood:
A 2012 study by George Washington University professors examined five counties in Texas and found that Planned Parenthood was the “dominant” provider in those areas. The study found that other clinics would need to increase their capacity by “two- to five-fold” in order to handle Planned Parenthood’s patients, but were already at or close to capacity.
Consider this another version of static tax analysis, with a heaping helping of ignoring the obvious. The federal government spends over $280 million on Title X family planning services alone each year, plus the broader range of health care for the poor that comes through Medicaid, which ranks in the billions. Those funds won’t disappear; the only change in the upcoming Senate bill will be to exclude Planned Parenthood from receiving those funds. The government will still spend the money.
When markets have demand and resources to meet it, then suppliers will emerge. In fact, it may be that federal support and subsidies for Planned Parenthood has had the effect of squeezing smaller providers out the markets where they dominate. Furthermore, the passage of ObamaCare was supposed to offer even broader choices by forcing everyone either into a comprehensive insurance plan or onto Medicaid. Women, especially poorer women, shouldn’t have only an abortion mill for their health care, and the government shouldn’t subsidize them and crowd out other potential providers.
The GAO calls shenanigans on this argument even from a static perspective:
According to the Government Accountability Office, the roughly 1,200 community health centers in the U.S. serve over 21 million people per year. Planned Parenthood, by contrast, serves 2.7 million people.
“These are comprehensive health care centers, something that Planned Parenthood is not,” said Mallory Quigley, a spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony List.
Having access to hundreds of millions more in government contracts with the absence of Planned Parenthood on the contractor list will have other centers looking to fill the gap. The demand to provide subsidies for Planned Parenthood is another form of corporate welfare, only for abortionists in order to render their other operations more economically viable.
No corporation has an entitlement to federal subsidies. This particular organization’s business practices make it unfit for taxpayer support. Let them survive on their own resources, and focus public support to those who truly focus on health rather than the destruction of human life.
Yes. That's EXACTLY the problem. And you've been representing Maineiacs for what?, 50 years?
“Susan Collins wonders where women will go to get “women’s health services”
She might try comparing the locations of the free clinics in Maine to the locations of PP in Maine.
https://www.mainemed.com/free-clinics
There is a PP in Biddeford. There is a free clinic in Biddeford. etc.
PP in Maine is in the cities, not the rural expanses.
Or, perhaps more accurately, can we survive WITH Planned Parenthood?
I live in Maine(Massachusetts refugee) I loathe this Rino broad and I let her office know it constantly. Now I get to call again and and belittle this wench for another faux pa which is the norm....disgusting that this dried up hag thinks she does a good job .... It just re-enforces my choice of not paying any income taxes for the last 15 plus years (of course i do not generate an income...want to buy a bridge?) the simple fact that this “so called” republican is pushing welfare abortion federally funded along with the lucrative “PARTS” side show is infuriating....someone slap this thieving rino twice...VERY HARD ..,,,Please!
There is OBAMACARE!!!!!/Sarc
Dr. Ben Carson had the perfect answer on Jake Tapper questions about PP and it’s services - mammograms, free birth control pills etc. “ I thought that was what we got from Obamacare.” he then said, “So why do we need PP?”
Nobody would ever need Planned Parenthood if this picture was placed on every headboard in the country.
Well, it managed for 200 years ...
Yes, we can be better off without ‘PLANNED HOMICIDE’
I would love to see Governor Paul LaPage run against Sue...
Collins is childless?
Very good.
RE: Collins is childless?
She got married only in 2012 to Thomas Daffron.
The Nation, and untold numbers of babies, survived just fine before the atrocity of PP.
With out government funding PP would have to compete with other medical providers. Perhaps they can raise the price on baby body parts. Perhaps Stem Express can start doing their own abortions and get rid of the middle man.
Take a closer look! How can anyone suspect that children are raised by parents who plan?
Exactly, or other clinics. Hubby and I go to a clinic when we get sick and our regular physician is not available. No big deal. PP is not the only provider of contraception in the country. There are a lot of other places you can go.
Orwellian headline.
Should be quoted each and EVERY time someone postulates Congress should XYZ: “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted…...”
YOU wish to fund, you go right ahead. You wish to *force* (by way of the govt gun through taxation, against the 5th, 9th, 10th and 13th A.), I other choice words for ya.
BTTT :...(
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