Rick Perry's prayers won't help fund health care for low-income women. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
As many as
130,000 Texas women will lose access to basic health and family planning services because the state refuses to comply with federal law by writing Planned Parenthood out of the state's Women's Health Program, a Medicaid-waiver program. Because they are in violation of federal law,
they'll lose Medicaid funding for the program.
The Health and Human Services Department will "let Texas know that that waiver will not be extended," HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday, according to The Associated Press.
Sebelius said the money will be phased out between May and September, the AP reports, to give the women enrolled in the Women's Health Program a chance to find alternative care.
Ninety percent of the program's fund is Medicaid funding from the federal government. The program provides everything from cancer screenings to reproductive health services. Gov. Rick Perry has
pledged to find money to offset that loss. Given the state's economic problems, and Perry's own disdain for the population this program serves, that's likely to prove an empty promise.