Cutting off federal funding for Planned Parenthood — a longstanding conservative goal that is included in the Republican bill to replace the Affordable Care Act — would reduce access to birth control for many women and result in thousands of additional Medicaid births, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Because nearly half of all births nationwide are to Medicaid patients, and many of those babies are Medicaid patients themselves, the budget office estimated that defunding Planned Parenthood even for a year would increase Medicaid spending by $21 million in the first year, and $77 million by 2026.
But across the country, one in five counties served by Planned Parenthood have no federally qualified health clinics, according to the earlier C.B.O. analysis — including two counties in Mr. Ryan’s district in Wisconsin. The C.B.O. estimates that in those areas, cuts to Planned Parenthood would result in 15 percent of women losing access to health care.
Anti-abortion activists have produced lists of other federally qualified health providers who they say could provide many of the same family planning services offered by Planned Parenthood. But a list of 2,010 providers in Louisiana included hundreds of ophthalmologists, nursing homes, dentists, cosmetic surgeons and audiologists. A list of 300 alternate providers in Ohio included addiction treatment centers and food banks.
