No, The Federal Government Does Not “Fund” Planned Parenthood
Politicians who want to shut Planned Parenthood down have lied about how federal funding works at its health centers. The truth is that Planned Parenthood gets reimbursed for delivering care just like any other health care provider.
What Planned Parenthood Is
Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit made up of a headquarters in New York City, as well as a network of 49 locally operated, independent affiliates nationwide. Those affiliates operate 600 health centers and provide a wide range of safe, reliable health care services that reflect the diverse needs of their communities — including lifesaving cancer screenings, HIV tests, and birth control.
Care and Revenue
What Planned Parenthood health centers do is health care. But politicians who push “defund” attacks like to talk about Planned Parenthood’s revenue, as if the federal government somehow hands Planned Parenthood a blank check. That’s not true.
Planned Parenthood’s revenue comes from three main sources:
- Reimbursements from federal health care programs, like Medicaid
- Donations
- Patient fees, such as reimbursements from patients or private health insurance for the services Planned Parenthood provides
(1) Reimbursements from Federal Programs
Most federal funds come to Planned Parenthood health centers through Medicaid, the government-funded health insurance plan for people with low incomes. Just like other kinds of insurance, Medicaid reimburses Planned Parenthood’s doctors, nurses, and other clinicians for the preventive medical services they provide.
About one-third of the revenue received at Planned Parenthood (38%) is from government health services reimbursements and grants, such as Medicaid**.
(2) Donations
Donors provide about 25% of revenue for Planned Parenthood affiliates (including health centers) and 94% of revenue for Planned Parenthood’s national organization (including the headquarters) — evidence of Planned Parenthood’s powerful grassroots support.
(3) Patient Fees
About one-fourth (22%) of the money that comes through Planned Parenthood is from patients’ out-of-pocket payments for health services and non-government compensation for health services.
This chart from Planned Parenthood’s 2019-2020 Annual Report shows the overall revenue for Planned Parenthood’s national office and affiliates.
The Federal Budget Has No ‘Line Item’ for Planned Parenthood That the President Can Somehow ‘Zero Out’
Almost 60% of Planned Parenthood patients’ visits use public health programs like Medicaid. “Defund" legislation immediately hurts those patients — patients like Casey, in the example below — by blocking them from care at Planned Parenthood centers:
Most Federal Funds = Medicaid Reimbursements for Preventive Care
Federal tax dollars don’t pay for abortions. An unfair law already prohibits that.
Impact of "Defunding" Planned Parenthood
If politicians out to “defund” Planned Parenthood have their way, they will block millions of patients who use Medicaid and other public health care programs from accessing care through those programs at Planned Parenthood health centers. If that happens, it would mean many Planned Parenthood patients would have nowhere else to turn for health care. Many Planned Parenthood patients live in rural areas, and 39% of Planned Parenthood patients (over 920,000) are people of color.
We won’t let that happen. No matter what.
Are you ready to fight back and stand with Planned Parenthood? Join the fight!
