Texas

Campaign for

Women’s

Health


TCWH Home

Target Population

Co-Sponsors

Women’s Health and
Family Planning
Association of Texas

PO Box 3868
Austin TX, 78764
512-448-4857 (voice)
512-448-3373 (fax)
TCWH@whfpt.org
www.whfpt.org/TCWH

Message to Texas Legislators 2003



Summary and Mission Statement

The Texas Campaign for Women's Health (TCWH) is a broad-based, statewide advocacy coalition comprising more than 50 cosponsoring organizations, as well as many individuals, working together to improve the status of women's health care in Texas. Cosponsoring groups include health care advocates, professional organizations, and community based advocacy, action and support groups.
The coalition is committed to seeing that the women of Texas have access to the care necessary to insure their health and well-being, and to securing new funding so that more low-income women have access to mammography, testing and ambulatory treatment for cervical cancer, diagnosis and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections, birth control, osteoporosis prevention education and up-to-date information about the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy.

Legislative Priorities for the 78th Session of the Texas Legislature

* Supporting a Medicaid Waiver for Women's Health
* Keeping current levels of funding for women's health care and family planning against the $9+ billion budget deficit
* Supporting additional funding for STD education, prevention, treatment, and tracking
* Opposing anti-choice legislation

1) Support for a Medicaid Waiver for Women's Health

Last year the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), with the approval of the Governor's Office, began moving forward with Texas' application for a federal Medicaid waiver to expand eligibility for preventive women's health care services and family planning, as well as treatment for breast and cervical cancer.

The waiver will fill an enormous hole in the health care safety net. Under current guidelines, only women with an income at 17% of the federal poverty level qualify for family planning services. In 2002, that was just $18,100 a year for a family of four.

The waiver would expand qualification to women ages 18-44 at 185% poverty level-the level at which they would qualify for prenatal care under Medicaid. With the waiver in place, thousands more women will have access to the following preventive and primary care services:

* an annual physician examination
* contraceptives
* health screening for breast and cervical cancer, diabetes, anemia, hypertension, sexually transmitted diseases and infections and other conditions
* treatment for breast and cervical cancer

Moreover, the waiver is cost efficient. For every state $1 spent on these preventive services, federal Medicaid will pay $9. This 90% to 10% match rate would allow Texas to provide preventive medical care to thousands of low-income citizens with the smallest of state investment.

It is also important to note that family planning agencies are the single largest screening mechanism for breast and cervical cancer in Texas. Expanding these services to additional low-income women will allow for early detection and treatment of these cancers, as well as other diseases and conditions identified, and provide more positive health and social outcomes for these women and their families. In addition, early detection and treatment will help preserve limited local community medical resources, as well as state and federal monies.


2) Support for current levels of funding for women's health care and family planning against the $9.9 billion budget deficit

Family planning clinics are the only source of health care for many uninsured and low-income women. There are approximately 400 family planning clinics in Texas, which served 451,329 clients in 1999. Yet, there were still more than 1.6 million women in need of family planning services.

* There are approximately 1.6 million uninsured women in Texas, and approximately 1 million of them are living at or below 185% of poverty (Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Demographic Profile of Texas Women, 1997).

Unintended pregnancy is the leading cause of dependency in Texas. Women cannot seek and maintain employment or become self-sufficient if they do not have the services necessary to avoid unintended pregnancies.

* In Texas, clients are eligible for Medicaid family planning only if they are living at or below 17% of the U.S. Federal Poverty Level. Thus, only the most poverty stricken are currently eligible for Medicaid family planning services. Yet, Texas will pay for Medicaid deliveries and newborn care at an income rate of 185% of the poverty level.

* In SFY 2000, almost half of the births in Texas were paid for by Medicaid, at a cost of over $375 million for 172,657 Medicaid deliveries (Texas Health and Human Services Commission, 2/12/2002).

* For every $1 spent on family planning, $3.30 is saved in the first year alone in Medicaid payments, delivery and new-born care, as well as support services like WIC (Texas Department of Health).

3) Support for additional funding for STD education, prevention, treatment, and tracking

Women bear the greatest burden of STDs, suffering more frequent and more serious complications than men (CDC 2000).

According to the national Centers for Disease Control, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is likely the most common STD among young, sexually active people. The Kaiser Family Foundation (1998) reports that HPV infections of the cervix and vagina are now the most common sexually transmitted infections among sexually active young women. More than 70 types of HPV have been identified, of which 30 can infect the genital area. Subclinical HPV infection is much more common than the treatable HPV that causes genital warts, and there is currently no treatment for it. This variety of HPV infection has been linked to cervical cancer.

Because health care providers are not required to report HPV, it is impossible to know the extent to which this disease is affecting women in Texas. Better knowledge of more accurate incidence rates would enable the state to determine to what extent its resources should be directed to prevention and education.

4) Opposition to anti-choice legislation