Planned Parenthood's affiliates in Missouri have asked a state administrative tribunal to keep the state from denying its clinics reimbursement from the state Medicaid program.
A law that goes into effect Wednesday bars the state's Medicaid program for low-income people, MO Healthnet, from reimbursing Planned Parenthood for its services. The law states that "no public funds will be expended to any abortion facility or affiliate thereof."
Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, in St. Louis, and Planned Parenthood Great Plains, near Kansas City, have submitted complaints against MO Healthnet officials to the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission, an independent regulatory panel of attorneys that hears disputes between state agencies and other parties.
(Missouri organizations disputing reimbursement claims must first be heard by the commission before launching legal action, sources from Planned Parenthood said.)
In the complaint, Planned Parenthood Great Rivers accuses the state of violating rights of patients to freely choose medical providers, the right of freedom to assemble and the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause by unfairly singling out Planned Parenthood.
“It violates federal Medicaid law to kick out a provider simply because of the services they provide,” said Richard Muniz, the organization’s interim president and CEO. “You may disagree with those services, but federal law makes clear that if you are a qualified and willing provider, you can be a Medicaid provider.”
Medicaid is a government-funded health insurance program administered through state governments.
As of summer 2024, close to 1.3 million Missourians are enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, according to data from KFF, a health policy research organization.
Planned Parenthood officials said they will continue to offer services to Medicaid patients even if the state does not reimburse them for that care.
The state banned abortion shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Although Planned Parenthood no longer provides abortions at its Missouri clinics, its affiliates in Illinois and Kansas still offer the procedure. Its clinics in Missouri continue to offer STD and pregnancy testing, birth control counseling and other medical services.
Representatives of the Missouri Department of Social Services, which administers MO HealthNet, could not be reached for comment.
The Missouri Supreme Court, most recently in February, has multiple times ruled previous state laws that sought to deny funding to Planned Parenthood were unconstitutional.
In previous years, Missouri legislators had attempted to pull Planned Parenthood Medicaid reimbursements through measures in appropriations bills, Muniz said. Courts struck down those efforts, ruling that they were attempts to legislate through budgeting and that they unfairly affected Planned Parenthood.
Although Missouri lawmakers this year pulled Medicaid funding through a standalone bill, Muniz said he expects the Administrative Hearing Commission to decide in favor of Planned Parenthood.
“[Legislators] are using the taxpayers to do this year after year after year,” he said. “And you know, if they were really concerned about health disparities, health equity, health outcomes, they would focus that money, that attention on actually helping Missourians, rather than politicizing health care.”
Nearly 20% of Planned Parenthood patients in Missouri use Medicaid insurance, officials from the organization said.
“While nearly every state health indicator woefully trails national standards, the legislature has focused on election-year stunts with complete disregard for real Missourians,” said Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains.
Although Missouri’s Supreme Court has historically sided with Planned Parenthood, other states have supported legislators’ bans on Medicaid reimbursements for abortion providers.
Other states have blocked reimbursements to Planned Parenthood. Arkansas stopped Medicaid payments to the organization after a federal appeals court in 2017 ruled in the state’s favor.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated in which states Planned Parenthood affiliates offer abortion. The procedure is offered at its affiliates in Illinois and Kansas. The story also has been updated to refer to Medicaid as government-sponsored health care
