Women’s health service bill fails to advance

A bill from that would expand eligibility for the state’s publicly funded family planning services and increase funding for a cancer-screening program failed to advance from general file Feb. 26.

LB77, sponsored by Omaha Sen. Jeremy Nordquist, would require the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to submit a state plan amendment to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no later than Sept. 1, 2015, to provide medical assistance for family planning services to individuals with a family earned income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

Nordquist said the bill would expand the state’s existing family planning services to reach a broader population in need of access, while saving the state an estimated $13 million per year. The new income level would make a family of three with an income of approximately $36,000 or less eligible for the services.

Nordquist said 62 percent of pregnancies in Nebraska are unintended and that unintended pregnancies account for 90 percent of abortions.

“[The bill] will help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the number of abortions in our state,” he said.

The bill also would appropriate $500,000 in general funds in fiscal year 2015-16 and FY2016-17 to DHHS. The funds would be directed to the Every Woman Matters program for services including preventive health and family planning services, education, outreach and reimbursement for:
• mammograms;
• breast examinations;
• Pap smears;
• colposcopy; and
• associated laboratory costs.

A Health and Human Services Committee amendment, adopted 32-0, removed preventive health and family planning services from the funding for the Every Woman Matters program.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, chairperson of the committee, said the Every Woman Matters program currently does not provide family planning services and the bill does not intend to expand the program to include them.

Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward spoke in opposition to the bill’s provisions regarding expansion of the Medicaid family planning program, saying state and federal government should not be involved in providing contraception.

“I just don’t see why we as citizens should be asked to fund contraception for anybody,” he said.

Bellevue Sen. Sue Crawford said philosophical opposition to contraception shouldn’t factor into lawmakers’ consideration of LB77. Natural family planning consultations are covered under the current program, she said, and other forms of contraception have been part of the Medicaid family planning program since its inception in the 1990s.

“That decision was made long ago,” Crawford said.

Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus spoke in favor of the bill, saying taxpayer dollars not spent on education for young women regarding family planning will be spent later on child care subsidies, early childhood education and other public assistance programs.

“This bill is no magic bullet, but it is a counterbalance to the spending that we would otherwise incur,” Schumacher said.

Sen. Kate Bolz of Lincoln offered an amendment, adopted 31-1, specifying that no state funds could be utilized to pay for or promote elective abortion services under the bill.

“I think we can all agree that healthy moms and healthy babies are an ideal that we should strive for in this state,” she said.

Following adoption of the Bolz amendment, senators voted 21-23 on advancement of the bill to select file—four votes short of the number required.