For Immediate Release:

October 16, 2007


Media Contact: Andrea Gage
414-213-3717 (cell)

 

Assembly Leadership Needs to Stop Playing Games with

Women’s Health Care and Pass a Budget
Message to Assembly Leadership: You are failing Wisconsin women and their families

 

Madison, WI- Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin (PPAWI) expressed grave concern over the losing situation women in Wisconsin are facing after the Assembly rejected Governor Doyle’s attempt to avert a health care crisis with a compromise budget.

 

The move by the Assembly to block a budget compromise and leave the women of Wisconsin in danger of losing their access to health care is nothing new. The Assembly originally passed a budget that dismantled the state’s family planning network by denying state family planning funds to private providers who provide birth control, breast and cervical cancer screening, and sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment to over 31,000 low-income women statewide. They refused to back down on these and other draconian cuts, leading to the current budget impasse. A recent report from the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) concluded that further budget delays will result in Wisconsin and health care providers losing millions of critical federal dollars to fund the Medicaid health care program. 

 

“First, the Assembly majority plays politics with women’s health by eliminating cost-effective health care programs. Then, they fail to move forward on the budget in light of new information that reveals the loss of millions in federal aid and costs to taxpayers. Now, they have failed to pass the governor's compromise budget,” said PPAWI Public Policy Director Chris Taylor. “It is almost inconceivable that the Assembly majority has failed us three times now in passing a budget to support the needs of Wisconsin women and our families.”

 

A continued budget delay will force DHFS on January 1, 2008 to slash Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers and hospitals that serve the low-income and uninsured in Wisconsin. Here’s what the continued Assembly maneuvers will cost taxpayers:

 

•        Family planning services provided by the Medicaid program would be reduced by $117,983 each month the Legislature fails to adopt a budget.

•        Family planning services provided under the Medicaid Family Planning Waiver program will be reduced by $132,548 each month the Legislature fails to adopt a budget.

•        Services provided under the Well Woman Program would be reduced by $67,844 each month the Legislature fails to adopt a budget.

•        $83 million in federal matching funds each month.

 

PPAWI encourages constituents to call members of the Assembly majority and let them know that it’s time to do the right thing.

 

“We need a budget now that protects our access to basic health care services like cervical and breast cancer screening and birth control,” said Taylor. “Legislators, Wisconsin women and families are depending on you.”

                                                                                               

###

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin is the advocacy arm of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin (PPWI). The mission of PPWI is to empower all individuals to manage their sexual and reproductive health through direct services, education, and advocacy.  www.ppawi.org