BILL ANALYSIS �
ACR 148
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Date of Hearing: May 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
ACR 148 (Butler) - As Amended: May 22, 2012
Policy Committee: HealthVote:13-6
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This measure resolves that the Legislature is committed to
supporting access to family planning services and urges the
preservation of funding for these services.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible direct state costs.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author, this resolution is needed
to bring awareness to the vulnerability of California's family
planning service providers to cuts in federal funding.
2)Background . California's support of access to family planning
services has been credited with large reductions in unintended
pregnancy. Individuals with income under 200% of the federal
poverty level who do not qualify for Medi-Cal are provided
services primarily through the Family Planning Access Care and
Treatment (Family PACT) program. Family PACT began in January
1997 as a state-only program. In 1999, the state began
claiming federal matching funds for family planning services
by receiving approval to provide them through a Medicaid 1115
Waiver Demonstration program. In March 2011, the federal
government approved a State Plan Amendment that transitioned
the Family PACT waiver services into the Medi-Cal state plan,
providing a more permanent basis for the provision of services
and the availability of federal matching funds. A recent
evaluation of the program indicates Family PACT reaches a
nearly 60% of women in need. A 2007 cost-benefit analysis of
the program estimated that one year of Family PACT services
ACR 148
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averted nearly 300,000 unintended pregnancies, more than one
quarter of which would have been teen pregnancies. Every
dollar spent on Family PACT services was estimated to save
public sector $4.30 from conception to age two by avoiding
public health and social services expenditures resulting from
unintended pregnancies.
Federal guidance has recently expanded access to
contraception. Regulations issued pursuant to the 2010
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires most
health plans to cover all Food and Drug
Administration-approved contraceptive methods with no patient
share of cost.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081