Medicaid Family Planning Project: Resources for State Advocates and Policymakers

Making Contraception More Accessible and Affordable!

The Medicaid Family Planning Project

Resources forState Advocates& Policymakers

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

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)
• Read the National Women's Law Center's fact sheets on the need for Congress to enact federal legislation,known asthe "Medicaid Family Planning State Option," to protect and expand access to affordablefamily planning services for women and their families:

• 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. (March 4, 2009)
• Read the 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)
• 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.
• Sign up to get more information on Medicaid family planning and other issues that matter to women and their families.