Originally posted by the Albany Times Union
For a century, doctors,
clinicians and staff at Planned Parenthood health centers across the country
have opened their doors and cared for patients. They answer the questions that
patients can't or don't want to ask anyone else, and they give accurate, unbiased
information that is needed to make some of the most important decisions that
will ever be made about their health and lives.
If politicians defund Planned
Parenthood, they won't be striking a line from the federal budget. Far from it
in fact, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that defunding Planned
Parenthood would cost taxpayers $130 million over 10 years.
Planned Parenthood, like
every other doctor's office or hospital, is reimbursed for the care it provides
to patients who rely on public health programs like Medicaid. That means the
people who would be most hurt are those already struggling to get by and those
who already face barriers to accessing health care, especially people of color,
people with low incomes and people who live in rural areas. For many of these
patients, there is nowhere else to go for care.
Patients don't go to Planned
Parenthood to make a political statement. They go for compassionate,
affordable, high-quality health care. Every person, no matter who they are or how
much money they make, deserves that kind of care. We cannot allow politicians
to take it away.
Carolyn M. Ehrlich
Albany
No comments:
Post a Comment