Title X funding still in limbo, raising costs for those already in need
Title X, or the National Family Planning Program has been providing free and low cost health services to underserved communities for decades.
GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Title X was established in 1970 under the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services or HHS.
The National Family Planning Program has been utilized by clinics across the nation to provide free services to uninsured or underinsured communities.
The only domestic, federal program for family planning and related preventative health services has been gone since April.
Organizations receiving Title X grants in 2023 served nearly 2.8 million clients.
These millions of patients received free or low-cost HIV and STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings, birth control, and other family planning and preventative health care.
Jamie Bardwell, a Converge Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, said these services are pretty standard.
“These are pretty basic health care services that help ensure Mississippians are healthy and can plan their pregnancies how they want them,” Bardwell said.
But back in March, they received a frightening letter from HHS.
They had 10 days to change some of their policies, or risk losing funding.
Danielle Lampton, a Converge Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, said their policies were misinterpreted by HHS.
“Jamie and I chose to make a commitment to ensure that Converge always has a staff that reflects the communities we serve,” Lampton said. “Which means it needs to be diverse. This was, we would say, misinterpreted by HHS as potentially being in conflict with federal regulations and requirements around nondiscrimination policies.”
Though Converge said they’ve complied with HHS, they still have yet to see their funding un-frozen.
Bardwell said this chaos hurts clinics and patients.
“There’s this chaos and uncertainty is really detrimental to the clinics- and also the people that are trying to serve,” Bardwell said. “Because now we have patients who are thinking, ‘Well, is the clinic able to provide this care or are they not? How much will I be charged?’ And it’s just confusion all around.”
Santee Ezell with Five Horizons in Starkville said while services have shifted, they’re still committed to serving their patients.
“Although there has been a shift in the services that we provide- we’re still working with our patients to ensure that we’re able to meet their needs,” Ezell said.
Lampton said clinics are being forced to charge more now.
“They’re having to charge more for those services, making it less accessible for everyone,” Lampton said.
Lampton said despite the freeze, some of their services will continue.
“In the meantime, we’re not quitting,” Lampton said. “We remain close to our communities. We are hitting the road with a series of pop up clinics so that people can receive services they otherwise would have received at a Title X site.”
Lampton had a dire prediction for a future without Title X.
“If our funding isn’t unfrozen we anticipate an increase in STI’s- particularly those that go undiagnosed and untreated,” Lampton said. “We anticipate an increase in late diagnosis of cancers. Which means those cancers will be harder to treat and more deadly to our populations, to our communities.”
Converge is still providing free reproductive health kits through the mail.
They are taking donations at their website to continue serving those in need.
