Court won’t revisit Medicaid funding

A federal appeals court declined Monday to revisit a three-judge panel’s decision that Arkansas can discontinue Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.

Three unnamed patients, who sued the Arkansas Department of Human Services after the funding cut-off was announced two years ago, had asked the panel and the entire 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to reconsider the Aug. 16 ruling, which vacated a federal judge’s 2015 and 2016 orders directing the state to continue paying for Planned Parenthood services for Medicaid recipients.

The ruling comes two years after Gov. Asa Hutchinson decided to end the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos.

The plaintiffs are considering their next steps, said Bettina Brownstein, one of the attorneys representing the patients. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible, but they could also exhaust other options in a lower court or through the state’s administrative appeal process and court system, Brownstein said Monday.

It remains unclear when Planned Parenthood could stop receiving Medicaid dollars in Arkansas. Amy Webb, a spokesman for the state Department of Human Services, said the 8th Circuit must issue a mandate to the district court. “Once that happens, we will turn off the Medicaid provider number,” she said in an email.

A spokesman for Planned Parenthood Great Plains, which oversees the provider’s two Arkansas clinics — one each in Little Rock and Fayetteville — said the clinics are continuing to see Medicaid recipients.

“Planned Parenthood Great Plains is committed to ensuring all patients in Arkansas retain the right to choose their provider, no matter their socioeconomic status,” Planned Parenthood Great Plains President and CEO Aaron Samulcek said in a statement. “While we evaluate all of our legal options and next steps, PPGP will keep fighting for our patients in Little Rock and Fayetteville to have access to critical services.” The court’s two-page order didn’t explain why the rehearing requests were denied.