Told You So, Indiana

This story should be on the front page of every newspaper. You may recall that last month, Republican Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a bill that made Indiana the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood. He of course, argued that the services Planned Parenthood provides – including women’s health and family planning services, would remain available through other providers.

AP) The Health and Human Services Department rejected changes in Indiana's Medicaid plan Wednesday, saying it illegally bans funding for Planned Parenthood, and sought to make clear that a similar fate awaits other states that pass legislation barring any qualified health care provider.

State officials signaled they would not accept HHS' decision.

In a letter sent to Indiana's Medicaid director, Medicaid Administrator Donald M. Berwick said Indiana's plan will improperly bar beneficiaries from receiving services. Federal law requires Medicaid beneficiaries to be able to obtain services from any qualified provider.

A scathing editorial about the story, in today’s New York Times, entitled justifiably, “When States Punish Women:”

The Obama administration has rightly decided to reject a mean-spirited and dangerous Indiana law banning the use of Medicaid funds at Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide vital health services to low-income women.

The law, signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana in May, is just one effort by Republican-led state legislatures around the country to end public financing for Planned Parenthood — a goal the House Republicans failed to achieve in the budget deal in April. The organization is a favorite target because a small percentage of its work involves providing abortion care even though no government money is used for that purpose.

Governor Daniels and Republican lawmakers, by depriving Planned Parenthood of about $3 million in government funds, would punish thousands of low-income women on Medicaid, who stand to lose access to affordable contraception, life-saving breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases. Making it harder for women to obtain birth control is certainly a poor strategy for reducing the number of abortions.

And Rachel Maddow highlighted the illegality of the Indiana measure last night, on her MSNBC show, positioning the story within the general war-against-women culture we are presently living in.

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Sort of wish Mitch Daniels was running for President now. Maybe this would be getting more attention, if that were the case. We need all the ammunition we can get.