Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of subsidies for people who purchase health insurance through the federal exchange, established under the Affordable Care Act. We applaud the 6-3 decision and the court’s recognition that the ACA is — and always was — intended to expand access to coverage, health care and to improve health.
The court’s decision in King vs. Burwell is yet more evidence that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay. Millions of Americans — including more than 70,000 Mainers enrolled in ACA coverage — can breathe easy, knowing they won’t lose the affordable coverage so many only recently have acquired.
The legal right to access health care and health insurance is meaningless if that care or coverage is unaffordable.
It is an immense relief to know the more than 61,000 Mainers who receive insurance subsidies will be able to keep their affordable coverage. However, we remain concerned about ongoing efforts to limit access to reproductive health care by making that care unaffordable.
As June came to a close, the U.S. Senate proposed slashing federal family planning funding by nearly $29 million and the U.S. House of Representatives proposed eliminating federal family planning funding completely. Title X is the federal fund that allows family planning and community health centers to provide affordable reproductive and sexual health care to millions of low-income patients, including birth control, cancer screenings, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and other health care services.
For more than 40 years, Title X, the federal family planning program, has been the primary source of funding for family planning clinics across the country, including 22 reproductive health clinics, seven school-based health centers and 22 community health centers in Maine. Last year, nearly 23,000 Mainers were served by Title X-funded health centers. For many of these Mainers, a visit to their local family planning clinic is the only health care they receive.
Funding for family planning makes good fiscal sense for everyone. Every public dollar spent on family planning generates nearly $7 in government savings. Unfortunately, reproductive health care has been so strongly politicized that even fiscal conservatives are willing to overlook these savings.
Title X funding allows people who otherwise would not be able to afford health care to access services and plan their families in a way that allows them to succeed in their educational goals, their careers and in fostering healthy relationships with their partners and children.
There still are many Americans who can’t afford health insurance, and politically motivated attempts to keep Americans from getting the health care they need persist. While we exhale a collective sigh of relief following last week’s Supreme Court ruling, we must turn our attention to the U.S. Congress’ attacks on access to family planning.
Kathryn Vezina is the president of the board of Maine Family Planning. George Hill is its president and CEO. Maine Family Planning has been the statewide Title X grantee for 40 years.