A budget bill moving through Congress blocks Medicaid patients from receiving care at Planned Parenthood, a network of nonprofit clinics providing reproductive and preventive health care. (Photo courtesy Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast)
A budget bill in Congress cuts Medicaid and essentially defunds Planned Parenthood, which could impact low-income Texans seeking birth control, wellness visits, STI tests and treatment, and cancer screenings.
Whether you have private health insurance or Medicaid, the ripple effects from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” will cost you money, says one expert at a Texas reproductive care organization.
That “One Big Beautiful Bill”—which passed the US House on May 22 fueled by support from Texas lawmakers—gives permanent tax cuts to high earners and corporations, expands deductions for the wealthy, and creates a dramatic increase in the estate tax exemption.
To pay for those benefits for the wealthy, the bill cuts Medicaid by roughly $700 billion and SNAP by about $300 billion, kicking up to 15 million Americans off their health insurance and raising the number of uninsured Americans by 50%.
The bill also stops an initiative that kept down health insurance premiums—meaning they could go up for millions of people across the country.
Another aspect of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” is that it would essentially defund Planned Parenthood, by barring Medicaid recipients from utilizing their services — though abortion care is already blocked from Medicaid. That act alone could leave more than a million low-income people who rely on Planned Parenthood health centers for birth control, wellness visits, STI tests and treatment, and cancer screenings with nowhere to go.
That very same thing happened on the state level in Texas four years ago—so providers at Planned Parenthood clinics across Texas have experience with what happens when Medicaid funding dries up.
“‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood and gutting critical public safety net programs like Medicaid would be disastrous for everyone, no matter if or how they are insured, with devastating ripple effects on the entire health care system,” said Abby Ledoux, vice president of communications and marketing at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. “All while costing taxpayers money—to give more tax breaks to their billionaire backers.”
The House and Senate are in recess this week and will return to Washington June 2, when the massive tax-and-spending bill moves to the Senate for consideration.
How the Medicaid cuts could impact Texans
Alexis McGill, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement that “the consequences will be catastrophic.”
“An estimated 200 Planned Parenthood health centers could close, leaving entire communities and regions without access to essential health care,” McGill explained. “Cancers will go undetected, birth control will be harder to get, and the public health infrastructure— already pushed to the brink—will break down.”
Ledoux added that there are even more repercussions, especially for people who live in rural areas, where clinics will have to close.
“When providers are cut off from critical revenue streams, it impacts their ability to operate and continue serving any patients, regardless of their income or insurance status,” she said. “Regardless of clinic closures, there’s increased pressure on sexual and reproductive health providers in every state and driving up wait times, travel distance for patients, and staffing needs.”
“Extremist politicians are so desperate to attack Planned Parenthood, they don’t care who they hurt in the process, including their own constituents,” Ledoux said. “It’s a losing proposition, but one they are hellbent on pursuing anyway.”
