States appear reluctant to accept President Joe Biden's offer to help cover abortion travel costs with Medicaid, according to a Politico report released on Tuesday.
Biden issued an executive order in August for the Department of Health and Human Services to consider helping cover the costs of travel for people who have to leave their home state for an abortion. Politico reached out to Medicaid agencies in 24 states where abortion access has not been restricted. Only half of those agencies replied, and not one said it was applying.
A total of 10 agencies said they were reviewing the proposal, two agencies said they were waiting for additional guidance from the federal government, and one state, North Carolina, said they would not apply.
Andrea Miller, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, told Politico, "There's no question that part of the challenge here ... are real limits to executive branch authority. They continue to try to find creative solutions, and they also continue to butt up against the limits of their authority, and that's frustrating for everyone."
An unnamed senior health official, who spoke to Politico anonymously, said that administration officials are "trying to use every lever we have available to us to think about every possible solution there might be, however narrow.
"If it can even help one person, it's worth considering. We've said, 'Open door, you've got an idea, come to us,' because we're trying to help everyone we can in any way we can. But the reality is there is no silver bullet here."
Politico notes that multiple officials cited the difficulties in applying for federal permission through Medicaid as one reason for the lack of interest, as well as a feeling that the time and money involved could be better utilized elsewhere.
"The number of women that will be impacted in that specific circumstance ... would be a pretty small number," said Connecticut Social Services Commissioner Deidre Gifford, who is also a senior adviser to the governor on health and human services. "We're continuing to refine our ideas, and we're going to keep going back and forth with CMS about whether our ideas fit with something that would be helpful, and if so, we'll move forward, and if not, we'll continue what we are doing to expand and support access for women who need to travel from another state."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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