The battle between Planned Parenthood and Texas has been the
hot issue, especially when Judge Jerry Smith of the Fifth Circuit Court of
Appeals decided that the Texas funding for Planned Parenthood could be ended
after all. At a glance, this looks like just a pro-abortion vs anti-abortion
issue but the argument goes a little bit technical. Planned parenthood is fighting back saying
that if Texas cuts the funds, that just means it’s ‘war on women’ since more
women here won’t be able to get general treatments like birth control and
cancer tests. However, before the whole pro-abortion vs anti-abortion
controversy, Planned Parenthood brought this upon themselves by defrauding the
Medicaid Women’s Health Program out of millions of dollars. This was done by
“billing for medical services not rendered, billing for unwarranted medical
services, billing for services not covered by Medicaid and creating false
information in medical records which was material to billing for medical services.”
No wonder the government doesn’t want their taxpayer dollars to go to Planned
Parenthood. This is just evidence that Planned Parenthood has become a business
obsessed with ways to earn money using loopholes rather than fulfilling the
role of a healthcare system for women. This kind of unethical course of action
largely lost the government funding. They really need to stop defrauding and have a clean image in order for them to fully argue that Texas is violating individual rights. Unless Planned Parenthood majorly changes
their approach, Texas is right to start this journey protesting against Planned
Parenthood.
After reading Lauren's post on Planned Parenthood, I started researching more on the fraud that is being reported. I honestly could not believe this is going on. In one article I found on this issue it says:
ReplyDelete"The complaint alleges Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast had a policy of providing abortions and medical services based on the ability of customers to pay...However, if patients were relying on Medicaid or another government program to pay the Planned Parenthood bill, then planned Parenthood would run up the costs “often provid[ing] services on an ‘across the board’ basis even when such services were not medically necessary.” This absolutely sickens me. How can the people who work for these government funded organizations do this? I see how it can be easy to feel bad for some women who cannot afford these services, and to maybe help them out a little bit, MAYBE, but to then go and over charge Medicaid to make up for the free services they gave to another woman is absurd! Though I think this is a great organization for women who cannot get annual exams, birth control, and cancer screenings anywhere else, I strongly agree with Lauren's post, and think the government needs to watch Planned Parenthood's books a little closer. I don't think it is a good idea to start cutting funds to this organization either because it will only hurt the one's who rely on their services.