Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood: Potential Medicaid cuts could harm most vulnerable patients
Amid nationwide concerns over changes in federal funding distribution, Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood is preparing for possible impacts.
While none of the organization’s services have been impacted to date, the nonprofit’s funding streams are considered to be at risk, according to Director of Public Affairs and Strategic Initiatives Eowyn Savela.
“There has been no effect on our immediate operations or services provided,” Savela said in an interview with The Bellingham Herald. “However, there’s definitely a feeling of uncertainty amongst administration, staff and patients about what’s to come. We are preparing for every possibility of changes with federal support and how we can adapt if that were to happen.”
During the last Trump administration, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers across the country were defunded from Title X family planning dollars, which is federal funding granted to help low-income individuals access affordable birth control and reproductive health care.
Savela said Planned Parenthood anticipates losing that funding again.
“We expect to be defunded from Title X at any moment. We were last time, so that’s something we are preparing for,” Savela said. “We are very fortunate that last time, Washington state was able to backfill those dollars.”
Family planning counseling and contraception make up a large portion of Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood’s services.
In 2023, it provided 33,500 total clinical services to the community, including:
▪ 19,000 tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
▪ 8,000 family planning counseling and contraception appointments
▪ 3,000 pregnancy tests
▪ 1,800 cancer screenings
▪ 600 abortions
Savela told The Herald that a main concern of the organization right now is the future of patients who utilize Medicaid to pay for health care.
About 30% of the patients who seek services at Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood pay with Medicaid. With federal discussions underway about potential cuts to that program, Savela said some of Planned Parenthood’s most vulnerable patients stand to be impacted.
“Medicaid loss would be catastrophic for Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood, for Washington state and for the country as a whole,” Savela said. “Millions and millions of people use Medicaid as their primary insurance. They use Medicaid because it’s an income-based qualified need and it’s generally low-income folks. Being able to afford other private insurance is kind of out of the picture for folks on Medicaid.”
Across Washington, Planned Parenthood affiliates receive about $22 million annually from patients using Medicaid for health care services, according to Savela. More than 70 million people across the United States were enrolled in Medicaid in October of 2024.
Savella said Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood will be looking to the state to supplement any loss in Medicaid dollars — a challenge as the state deals with an estimated $12 billion budget shortfall. Still, Savela said, finding a way to supplement any loss will be critical because for every dollar spent on family planning services an additional $7 is saved in associated long-term costs.
“We are an irreplaceable piece of Washington’s health care system,” Savela said. Any cuts to funding for our services, including just general federal Medicaid cuts, would have long-term costs that are really hard to wrap your head around.”
