In response to comments from NoHLA and other advocates, the state Health Care Authority (HCA) has announced it will permit applicants to make an informed choice to obtain Family Planning Only program (FPO) services without applying for full scope Medicaid. 

This is welcome news, as the state-funded program became available to all regardless of immigration status in January of this year. The program was intended as a way to improve access to necessary reproductive and sexual health services but has remained underutilized because of fear related to the public charge rules. As of August, more people had been denied than approved for the program, and these denials were directly tied to the previous requirement to apply for and obtain a Medicaid denial before accessing the FPO program. HCA has advised us that this change has been adopted in agency rules but the application form has not yet been revised.  We anticipate that it will become available for use in the near future.

If you have questions about this change, please contact huma@nohla.org. 

–Huma Zarif, NoHLA Staff Attorney