Vermont

Family planning services are vital: Women who are not using contraceptives, or who are using them inconsistently, represent one-third of all women at risk of unintended pregnancy but account for 95% all unintended pregnancies.(1) Unintended pregnancy and inadequate pregnancy spacing, in turn, have been linked with numerous negative maternal and child health outcomes. In addition, women’s ability to rely on contraception enables them to invest in higher education and to be full participants in the nation’s workforce.(2)

Publicly funded family planning services in the United States helped serve more than nine million female contraceptive clients in 2006.(1) They helped women and couples avoid 1.94 million unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 860,000 unplanned births and 810,000 abortions. Without these services, unintended pregnancy and abortion in the United States would be nearly two-thirds higher. And by helping women avoid unintended pregnancies, the services provided by publicly supported family planning centers saved taxpayers $5.1 billion in 2008, amounting to nearly $4 saved for every $1 spent providing contraceptive care.(3)

Medicaid is central to the U.S. family planning effort. In 2010, 15% of women of reproductive age (15–44) relied on Medicaid, as did 38% of poor women in that age-group.(4) Federal law since the early 1970s has required that family planning services and supplies be covered for all program enrollees and that those services be exempt from any type of patient cost-sharing, such as copayments. The federal government reimburses the states for 90% of Medicaid family planning expenditures, a considerably higher rate than for most other services (50–75%, depending on the state). In addition, more than half of states have expanded Medicaid eligibility specifically for family planning services to women and men who do not qualify for the broader Medicaid program.(5) Altogether, although family planning constitutes only about one-half of 1% of all Medicaid expenditures, it is the financial cornerstone of the publicly funded family planning effort: Medicaid spent nearly $1.8 billion on family planning services in FY 2010, amounting to 75% of all public family planning spending.(6)

• In 2008, 38,900 women in Vermont were in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies.(3) (These are women who are sexually active; are aged 13–44; are able to become pregnant but are not pregnant, postpartum nor trying to become pregnant; and either have a family income below 250% of the federal poverty level or are younger than age 20.)

• In 2006, 5,000 Vermont residents had an unintended pregnancy, for a rate of 38 per 1,000 women aged 15–44.(7) Births resulting from these unintended pregnancies cost the state and federal governments $22 million that year.(8)

• In 2007, 1,720 Vermont residents obtained abortions, for a rate of 14.1 per 1,000 women aged 15–44, compared with 19.4 per 1,000 nationally.(9)

• In 2005, there were 890 pregnancies among Vermont teens aged 15–19, for a rate of 40 pregnancies per 1,000 teen women, compared with 70 per 1,000 nationally.(10)

• In 2009, there were 393 births among Vermont teens aged 15–19, for a rate of 17.4 births per 1,000 teen women, compared with 39 per 1,000 nationally.(11,12)

• In 2008, contraceptive services provided at publicly funded centers in Vermont helped women avoid 5,700 unintended pregnancies, which would have resulted in 2,500 births and 2,400 abortions.(3)

• In the absence of these services, the number of unintended pregnancies in Vermont would be 116% higher, and the number of abortions would be 140% higher.(13)

• In 2006, contraceptive services provided at publicly funded centers in Vermont helped 1,339 women younger than age 20 avoid an unintended pregnancy.(14)

• In the absence of these services, the number of teen pregnancies in Vermont would be 150% higher.(13)

• By helping women avoid unintended pregnancies and the births that would follow, the services provided at publicly supported centers in Vermont saved $19 million in public funds in 2008.(3)

• In 2009–2010, 28,500 women of reproductive age were enrolled in Medicaid, accounting for 24% of women in that age-group.(4)

• Medicaid provides critical support to the network of 31 family planning centers that serve 27,500 women in Vermont.(3,15)

• The federal government and Vermont together spent $4.2 million on family planning services for women enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program in FY 2010. That amounts to 80% of all public funding for family planning in Vermont.(6)

• Medicaid’s role is slated to expand in the near future, as a result of the federal health reform legislation enacted in 2010. After expansion, 36% of currently uninsured women aged 18–64, amounting to roughly 8,000 women, are projected to be eligible for Medicaid in 2014, when all states will be required to cover individuals up to 133% of poverty.(16)

Since the mid-1990s, 24 states have initiated broad income-based expansion programs providing family planning services under Medicaid to women (and, in some states, men) with incomes well above the cut-off for Medicaid eligibility overall and regardless of whether they meet other requirements for Medicaid coverage, such as being a low-income parent.(5) States have usually sought to match the eligibility level they have set for pregnant women under Medicaid, typically 185% or 200% of the federal poverty level. Five additional states have implemented more limited expansions for individuals losing full-benefit Medicaid coverage (most often after giving birth).

Initially, states seeking to initiate this type of expansion were required to receive federal approval under a long and complicated process known as a “waiver.” Because evaluations over nearly two decades showed these temporary demonstration programs have clear health benefits and generate significant government cost-savings, Congress included a groundbreaking provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 designed to facilitate states’ adoption of an expansion program.(17) Under that new authority, known as a State Plan Amendment, a state may set the eligibility level for family planning up to the highest level for pregnant women in place under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program; the state may not exclude individuals based on age or gender. The provision also greatly simplifies the process for a state seeking to implement an expansion program and allows the program to be permanent (rather than having to be renewed periodically, as is the case for waivers).

States’ long experience in implementing these programs has made it clear that, to maximize its impact, a program must make serious efforts to ensure that potential clients learn about the program.(17) To reach out to new clients, state agencies have established program Web sites and telephone hotlines, linked up with other health and social services programs, and used tailored messages and tactics to reach young adults, Latinas and other groups in need.

States have also taken a number of steps to streamline enrollment.(17) For example, they have used tactics such as simplifying application forms, offering online applications, using databases to verify citizenship status and income, automatically enrolling certain groups of potential clients, and facilitating applications and enrollment at the point of service.

Collectively, the income-based Medicaid expansion programs spent $626 million on family planning services in FY 2010.(6) The limited expansion programs spent $3.7 million that year. Together, spending under the expansions constitutes 36% of total Medicaid family planning expenditures in the United States. These programs serve about 2.7 million clients over the course of a year.(17)

According to state and federal evaluations and independent studies, the programs have expanded the network of family planning providers and increased their capacity to meet the need for services.(17) The services provided have helped reduce levels of unprotected sex, increase use of more-effective contraceptive methods and improve continuity of contraceptive use. They have also expanded access to related preventive care, such as screening for STIs and cervical cancer. Improved contraceptive use has translated into measurable declines in unintended and teen pregnancy, and improvements in women’s ability to space their pregnancies. In the process, the expansions have substantially reduced federal and state Medicaid expenditures on unplanned pregnancy.

• Vermont has not instituted any type of Medicaid family planning expansion program.(5)

• According to 2011 projections from the Guttmacher Institute, if Vermont did institute an expansion program and maximized its eligibility criteria under the new authority granted to states by the Affordable Care Act, the benefits could be considerable.(18) In addition to what its current Medicaid program achieves today, the state could:

• provide family planning services to 5,200 individuals;
• help women and couples avoid 730 unintended pregnancies per year, which would otherwise result in 240 abortions and 380 births; and
• achieve net savings of $4.3 million annually, including $2.1 million in state dollars.