The federal government has sent warnings to 10 states that it is illegal to cut off Medicaid payments to  for women’s health services without evidence of wrongdoing by the provider (meaning Planned Parenthood).

Arkansas has already been sued for Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s factually unsupported decision to stop reimbursement for medical services to Planned Parenthood in Arkansas because of the (bogus) complaints made elsewhere about illicit fetal tissue donations. The feds have sent some warnings about cessation of such services previously, but now has collectively written all 10 states that have taken or are considering action.

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According to The Hill, Vikke Jachino, the head of Medicaid, said Medicaid beneficiaries have a legal right to see any qualified provider and states don’t have the power to disqualify providers without good reason.

“Such reasons may not include a desire to target a provider or set of providers for reasons unrelated to their fitness to perform covered services or the adequacy of their billing practices,” the letter said.

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That means, of course, Hutchinson’s decision to ban Planned Parenthood essentially because it is an abortion provider. In Arkansas, it provides abortion only in the first eight weeks of pregnancy through a pharmaceutical regimen. That is not covered by Medicaid or other government support except in cases of rape or incest. The fact that an agency provides abortion shall not be a ground for refusing to pay for other services, the letter said.

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