March 2, 2006

Granholm Expands Eligibility for Family Planning Services

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that the federal government has approved her administration’s request for a Medicaid waiver to extend family planning services to 200,000 women without health insurance coverage in Michigan.  The waiver was approved on Wednesday.

“We specifically requested this federal family planning waiver because we believe extending these services to low-income women across our state greatly increases the chance that every pregnancy in Michigan is a wanted one,” Granholm said today. “If all pregnancies were intended, the state would see significant reductions in infant mortality, child abuse, child neglect, and abortion.”

Granholm first announced plans for the waiver when she unveiled her Blueprint for Preventing Unintended Pregnancies in July 2005 that also includes two other initiatives:  “Talk Early, Talk Often,” a pilot program that gives middle school parents tools for holding conversations about sexuality and abstinence with their children; and contraceptive equity for men and women.

Through the state’s new family planning waiver, the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) will now provide family planning services to women – ages 19 to 44 – who otherwise would not have medical coverage for these services.

Janet Olszewski, director of the Michigan Department of Community Health, said women at or below 185 percent of poverty who reside in Michigan and meet Medicaid citizenship requirements now qualify for the extension of services.

“We estimate that Michigan’s Medicaid program will be able to offset $274 million in Medicaid and avoid 19,400 unintended pregnancies that we would otherwise have had to absorb,” Olszewski said.  “Our Medicaid staff worked tirelessly with the federal government to seek approval of this waiver, and we are extremely proud of their continued efforts.”

In addition, Olszewski said the waiver does not include coverage for abortions or treatment of infertility.  Eighteen other states have similar waivers for family planning services.

It is estimated that each public dollar spent to provide family planning services saves an estimated $3 that would otherwise be spent in Medicaid costs for pregnancy-related care and medical care for newborns, according to national Medicaid research.
   
MDCH’s Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS - a survey of maternal experiences and behaviors before and during a woman's pregnancy) data for the year 2001 shows that 40.6 percent of all pregnancies were unintended.
  
The total cost to Medicaid for the delivery of a baby and first year of life is $11,528 – with the cost of delivery averaging $6,197 and the cost of first year of life services averaging $5,331.  In FY 2000, the state Medicaid program paid for prenatal, delivery, and post-natal care of roughly 26,000 unintended births.  Each birth cost Medicaid $11,000, which translates to $286 million in costs for Michigan.
  
If Michigan can reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by only 10 percent, it would save the state over $27 million in Medicaid expenditures annually.