Medicaid Family Planning

The Medicaid Family Planning Project:
Expanding Coverage through Medicaid to Make Contraception More Accessible and Affordable

The National Women's Law Center is working in partnership with advocates and policymakers to expand access to contraception and other preventive health care critical to the health and well-being of low-income women and their families.

Through the Medicaid Family Planning Project, the National Women's Law Center is:

• Advancing federal legislation that would allow states to improve access to affordable preventive health care for women and their families by expanding eligibility for family planning services under Medicaid without having to obtain a federal waiver;
• Helping state policymakers and advocates secure Medicaid family planning expansions by obtaining federal waivers; and
• Advocating for improvements to Medicaid coverage of family planning services through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Medicaid Family Planning Project Resources

The National Women's Law Center hosted a webinar on Medicaid Family Planning: Making Contraception More Accessible and Affordable on April 15, 2009. The webinar discussed efforts to advance federal legislation that would expand access to affordable family planning services underMedicaid with advocates from across the country and shared ways to get involved.

• Watch a replay of the webinar
• Download the webinar presentation (PDF)
• Read the speaker biographies (PDF)

State Medicaid Family Planning Expansions

To date, twenty-seven states have taken an important step towards improving women's health by receiving a federal waiver to expand access to family planning services under the state's Medicaid program. The National Women's Law Center is providing technical assistance to states to help make contraception and other preventive health services more accessible and affordable for women and their families.

• Fact Sheet on State Medicaid Family Planning Expansions
• Testimony of Judy Waxman to the Maryland Health and Government Operations Committee on expanding access to family planning services under the Maryland Medical Assistance Program(March 10, 2009)

Federal Medicaid Family Planning State Option

Despite the overwhelming success of these programs in more than half of all states, Medicaid family planning expansions still require special permission from the federal government, a process that takes an average of two years. The Medicaid Family Planning State Option would obviate the need for this arduous process - and enable states to get more women covered now.

• U.S. Fact Sheet (PDF)
• State Fact Sheets (PDFs): Arkansas | Delaware | Iowa | Maine | Michigan | Montana | New Jersey | Oregon | Tennessee | West Virginia | Washington

Federal Effortsto Protect and Improve Coverage of Family Planning Services

Since Medicaid serves as a critical source of health insurance for low-income women - covering one-third of all poor women in the U.S., and 40 percent of single mothers - it is critically important to preserve, protect, and expand access to family planning services under the Medicaid program.

• Read the comments submitted by the Center in collaboration with other advocacy organizations to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the proposed final ruleon Medicaid benchmark benefit plans that would allow states to exclude family planning services from alternative benefit packages.
• For information or technical assistance, please contact the Medicaid Family Planning Project, National Women's Law Center, 11 Dupont Circle, NW, Sutie 800, Washington, DC, 20036, tel: (202) 588-5180; fax: (202) 588-5185 or send an e-mail to info@nwlc.org.

Additional Resources

• Reform Matters: Making Real Progress for Women and Health Care
• Reproductive Health Care and Health Reform
• Press Release: Opinion Survey Shows Broad Support Among Republicans and Independents for Reproductive Health Care Agenda