Orange County, Planned Parenthood at odds over funding

There’s a battle brewing over Tobacco Settlement Revenue in Orange County. The local Planned Parenthood chapter wanted $289,000 of that money for a breast health program. But the county says it couldn’t reach a deal, so no money for the program. KPCC’s Susan Valot says now Planned Parenthood is considering whether to sue.

Susan Valot: It started back in March. The Orange County Board of Supervisors decided to take away Planned Parenthood’s funding for sex education. The group’s Stephanie Kight says it was money they’d been getting for eight years – and she says it did not pay for abortions.

Stephanie Kight: For their stated reason, their ideological reasons, they did not want to provide funds for health education programs that was being put on by some organization that also, in another part of their business, provided abortion services.

Valot: A month later, the board reinstated the funding for the rest of the fiscal year, but put in place new rules for clinics to qualify for the tobacco money. They require clinics to use the money on direct care – and not for education programs. So Planned Parenthood created a program to help catch breast cancer in high-risk, low-income women under the age of 40. For this fiscal year, county supervisors approved tobacco revenue grants for all of the other clinics that applied… except Planned Parenthood. Kight says that’s when the negotiations started.

Kight: At every step of the negotiation, the Health Care Agency provided – or created a new set of rules that we had to follow. So we would submit – we would follow the new rule and they would say, “Oh, here’s another new rule.” So forth and so on.

Valot: Planned Parenthood says the county tried to hold it to a different set of standards than other clinics. Six or seven weeks into negotiations, the county’s Health Care Agency gave its final offer and gave Planned Parenthood about 24 hours to agree to the terms. The organization’s Stephanie Kyte says it was an unworkable deadline.

Kight: I’m disappointed. I’m really sad for the county and mostly for the patients who need the services and really, REALLY disappointed that our county supervisors will have let their personal ideology interfere with the healthcare of Orange County.

Valot: The Orange County Health Care Agency has a different story. No one at the agency was available for an interview – but it did release a written statement though spokeswoman Deanne Thompson.

Deanne Thompson: The Health Care Agency worked in good faith with Planned Parenthood in an effort to reach an agreement to fund a breast healthcare program consistent with the county’s criteria.

Valot: She says the agency did not offer lower rates to Planned Parenthood.

Thompson: To recognize the specialized nature of the breast health care program, the agency offered reimbursement rates 250 percent higher than agreed to by all other community clinics.

Valot: The Health Care Agency says it set the day-long deadline to bring the “matter to a rapid and appropriate conclusion.” But Planned Parenthood argues the conclusion – and the process – wasn’t so appropriate. It says it’s considering legal action.