Citing opposition from anti-abortion lawmakers, Insurance Commissioner Jay Bradford said Wednesday that he has scrapped his plan to present the Legislature with a contract for Planned Parenthood to provide outreach workers to help people enroll in subsidized health coverage starting Oct. 1.
Bradford said in June that he planned to issue a contract to Planned Parenthood to provide seven outreach workers for the effort to enroll people in coverage that is being made available under the 2010 federal healthcare overhaul law.
But on Wednesday, he said that he reconsidered the issue after “looking at the larger picture of everything we had going and the myriad number of programs that we’re trying to institute on this fast timetable.”
“We just didn’t have the legislative support for it, so we just didn’t pursue it any further,” he said.
Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, said Bradford made the right decision. The Legislature would not have approved the contract anyway, he said.
“I just think there were a lot of folks that did not want to see two politically volatile situations intertwined, especially when it was so unnecessary and inconsequential,” Burris said.
In a written statement, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland CEO Jill June said, “It’s concerning that some legislators are more interested in playing politics than helping Arkansas families access the health services and information they need.
“Extreme lawmakers are targeting Planned Parenthood, but in reality they are hurting uninsured Arkansas families,” she said.
The group, which operates health centers in Fayetteville and Little Rock, was among 30 entities that applied for contracts to provide a total of more more than 500 workers for the effort to enroll people in plans through an exchange being set up by the federal government under a partnership with the state.
The Insurance Department issued contracts to 27 of the organizations in June but delayed issuing one to Planned Parenthood after some lawmakers objected.
Later that month, Bradford said he would issue a contract to Planned Parenthood after it provided a letter pledging that no money for the contract would go to support abortion-related activities.
Bettina Brownstein, a Little Rock attorney who represents the American Civil Liberties Union in abortion cases, said courts have found that rejecting a vendor based on opposition to abortion rights violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection under the law for all people.
Planned Parenthood spokesman Shelby Cloke said she wasn’t aware of any plans as of Wednesday for the group to challenge Bradford’s decision in court.
Gov. Mike Beebe supports Bradford’s decision, spokesman Matt DeCample said.
“We trust Commissioner Bradford’s political instincts as far as when he does or doesn’t have the support to bring something up,” DeCample said.
Referring to Bradford’s efforts to implement provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, he said that Bradford has been “embattled on this issue for a couple years now, and I think we will support his decision as to what he does and doesn’t think he needs to bring to the Legislature to get everything under way with the [insurance] exchange.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 09/14/2013