Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1696592383691.pdf (United States)
May 10, 2022 Administrator Brooks-LaSure Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services 7500 Security Blvd., Mail Stop S2-01-16 Baltimore, MD 21244-1850 Dear Administrator Brooks-LaSure, As strong proponents of the Medicaid program, we wish to reaffirm our deep commitment to ensuring that all Medicaid patients have access to their choice of provider for sexual and reproductive health care services.
We are deeply concerned that several states already have excluded qualified sexual and reproductive health care providers from their respective Medicaid programs in violation of federal Medicaid law.

We request that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) fulfill its duty to ensure health care access for people with low incomes and enforce Medicaid’s free choice of provider requirement immediately.
The “free choice of provider” guarantee of the federal Medicaid Act is a longstanding and fundamental protection that has afforded beneficiaries timely access to necessary health care services.1 Despite this guarantee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas have terminated Planned Parenthood as a provider.234 In some states, patients have been blocked from accessing Planned Parenthood health centers for more than a year.
In Missouri, Planned Parenthood providers are absorbing all costs of care, which will become more and more financially burdensome as time goes on.

Missouri and Mississippi have terminated other specialized reproductive health providers from their state programs.

In addition, similar providers in Louisiana and South Carolina are only able to participate in the program because of the courts stepping in and blocking similar state efforts.

1 Social Security Act, 1902(a)(23).

2 Najmabadi, Shannon.


“Judge rejects bid by Planned Parenthood to stay in Medicaid, affecting health service for thousands of low-income Texans.” The Texas Tribune,10 March 2021, https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/10/planned-parenthood-medicaid-texas/.

Accessed 12 Apr.

2022.

3 Kennedy, Merrit.


“Federal Appeals Court Says Arkansas Can Block Medicaid Payments To Planned Parenthood.” NPR, 16 Aug. 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/16/543974021/federal-appeals-court-says-arkansas- can-block-medicaid-payments-to-planned-paren.

Accessed 12 Apr.

2022.

4 Parenthood, Planned.


“Missouri Just Became Fourth State to Approve ‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood; Biden Administration Must Take Action Immediately.” Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, 24 Feb. 2022, https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-st-louis- region-southwest-missouri/who-we-are/press-releases/missouri-just-became-fourth-state-to-approve- defunding-planned-parenthood-biden-administration-must-take-action-immediately.
These state actions have no basis other than an animus towards reproductive health providers and the patients with low incomes they serve.

They represent a collective attack on the integrity of the Medicaid program and the people it serves.

And since these providers have an outsized role in serving patients with low incomes, Medicaid patients and their families are the ones who are harmed as a result.
For many patients of reproductive age in these and other states, Planned Parenthood providers are their only source of health care.5 These state actions delay and impede timely access to critical health services.

We urge CMS to take action to protect the Medicaid program and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care services.

What has happened in Arkansas, Texas, Mississippi, and Missouri will not end in these states.
Without enforcement, even more states might see their reproductive health care severely restricted and pushed out of reach for communities most in need of the vital services provided by Planned Parenthood.

The agency, under the Obama administration, has already warned that states cannot withhold Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood and block people with Medicaid from accessing care at Planned Parenthood health centers.

But more can and should be done to enforce the free choice of provider requirement.
We request that CMS ensure health care access for people with Medicaid—who are disproportionately people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, and other marginalized groups who face systemic barriers to economic advancement— and enforce Medicaid’s free choice of provider requirement immediately.

We look forward to the opportunity to assist you in this effort and appreciate your attention to this matter.

Sincerely, Lizzie Fletcher Member of Congress Cori Bush Member of Congress 5 Frost, Jennifer J., et al.
(2012).

“Specialized Family Planning Clinics in the United States: Why Women Choose Them and Their Role in Meeting Women’s Health Care Needs,” Guttmacher Institute.

New York, New York.

[Online].
https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/pubs/journals/ j.whi.2012.09.002.pdf Lloyd Doggett Member of Congress Nanette Diaz Barragán Member of Congress Karen Bass Member of Congress Eleanor Holmes Norton Member of Congress Nikema Williams Member of Congress Adam Smith Member of Congress Salud Carbajal Member of Congress Tony Cárdenas Member of Congress Andy Levin Member of Congress Barbara Lee Member of Congress Mike Quigley Member of Congress Veronica Escobar Member of Congress Julia Brownley Member of Congress Bonnie Watson Coleman Member of Congress Ayanna Pressley Member of Congress Dwight Evans Member of Congress Mark Takano Member of Congress Adriano Espaillat Member of Congress Al Lawson Member of Congress Judy Chu Member of Congress Lois Frankel Member of Congress Gerald E. Connolly Member of Congress Jan Schakowsky Member of Congress Jahana Hayes Member of Congress Nydia M. Velázquez Member of Congress Mike Doyle Member of Congress Mark DeSaulnier Member of Congress Diana DeGette Member of Congress Frederica S. Wilson Member of Congress Katie Porter Member of Congress Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D.
Member of Congress Colin Z. Allred Member of Congress Earl Blumenauer Member of Congress Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr.

Member of Congress Mary Gay Scanlon Member of Congress David J. Trone Member of Congress Eddie Bernice Johnson Member of Congress Jimmy Gomez Member of Congress Jake Auchincloss Member of Congress Ami Bera, M.D.
Member of Congress Ro Khanna Member of Congress Marilyn Strickland Member of Congress Sheila Jackson Lee Member of Congress Joseph D. Morelle Member of Congress Marc A. Veasey Member of Congress Tom O'Halleran Member of Congress Jamie Raskin Member of Congress Robin L. Kelly Member of Congress Sylvia R. Garcia Member of Congress Jackie Speier Member of Congress Brenda L. Lawrence Member of Congress Juan Vargas Member of Congress Dina Titus Member of Congress Sara Jacobs Member of Congress Jerrold Nadler Member of Congress Rosa L. DeLauro Member of Congress Lori Trahan Member of Congress Madeleine Dean Member of Congress Jimmy Panetta Member of Congress Marie Newman Member of Congress Albio Sires Member of Congress Emanuel Cleaver, II Member of Congress Linda T. Sánchez Member of Congress Sean Casten Member of Congress Ann McLane Kuster Member of Congress Kathy Manning Member of Congress A. Donald McEachin Member of Congress Derek Kilmer Member of Congress Kathleen M. Rice Member of Congress Eric Swalwell Member of Congress Ruben Gallego Member of Congress Kim Schrier, M.D.
Member of Congress Jason Crow Member of Congress Raúl M. Grijalva Member of Congress Danny K. Davis Member of Congress Jerry McNerney Member of Congress Sharice L. Davids Member of Congress David N. Cicilline Member of Congress Mark Pocan Member of Congress Chrissy Houlahan Member of Congress Grace Meng Member of Congress Ann Kirkpatrick Member of Congress Yvette D. Clarke Member of Congress Alan Lowenthal Member of Congress Gwen S. Moore Member of Congress Carolyn Bourdeaux Member of Congress Debbie Wasserman Schultz Member of Congress Grace F. Napolitano Member of Congress Jared Huffman Member of Congress John Garamendi Member of Congress James P. McGovern Member of Congress Alma S. Adams, Ph.D.
Member of Congress Donald S. Beyer Jr.

Member of Congress Peter A. DeFazio Member of Congress Rick Larsen Member of Congress Debbie Dingell Member of Congress Susie Lee Member of Congress Steve Cohen Member of Congress ___________________ Al Green Member of Congress _____