Governor Ferguson: Washington will cover gap caused by federal attempt to defund of Planned Parenthood
President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ bans all Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood for a year
SEATTLE — Governor Bob Ferguson announced today that Washington state will cover the gap caused by the federal government’s defunding of Planned Parenthood.
On July 4, President Donald Trump signed the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which included a one-year moratorium on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood that went into effect as soon as the bill was signed.
Medicaid is one of the primary payers for Planned Parenthood, covering services including preventative care and cancer screenings. Medicaid Funds cannot be used to pay for abortion services.
In Washington, Planned Parenthood receives at least $22 million a year in Medicaid funding, which includes at least $11 million from the federal government. It is one of Washington’s preeminent Medicaid providers.
Planned Parenthood is currently in court challenging the federal cut to their funding. If that litigation is not successful, Governor Ferguson will make state funding available to cover the gap to ensure Washingtonians continue to have access to this important care.
“This is a blatantly political, cruel attack on reproductive rights — a common theme within the Trump Administration,” Governor Ferguson said. “The real victims are Washingtonians who will lose their health care provider. I will not allow that to happen. While we have a very challenging budget in Washington, and cannot backfill every cut in this Big Betrayal Bill, we must step into this temporary gap to ensure women continue to have access to critical health care.”
The provision defunding Planned Parenthood was part of the unprecedented cuts to Medicaid that Congressional Republicans narrowly passed with a tie-breaking vote from the vice president, in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires. They include $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts over the next 10 years, the largest cut to the program in history. That includes at least $3 billion in cuts to Washington per year.
In Washington, these cuts will cause at least 250,000 Washingtonians to lose Medicaid coverage and as many as 150,000 Washingtonians to be priced out of the state’s health care exchange. Washington state will also lose at least $1.5 billion in hospital reimbursements by 2031.
Right now, approximately a quarter of Washingtonians are on Medicaid. In 26 of Washington’s 39 counties, more than half of all children are covered by Medicaid.
Washington’s U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse and Michael Baumgartner voted in favor of the cuts, which will disproportionately affect their constituents in Eastern and Central Washington. Between these two districts, more than 500,000 people in Central and Eastern Washington are on Medicaid.
Trump’s bill also included cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Approximately 1 million Washingtonians use SNAP benefits to purchase food. All of them will see their benefits reduced, and more than 130,000 Washingtonians could lose their benefits altogether.
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