Health and Education, Policy Updates
TAKE ACTION: Protect Our Options for Healthcare
by Eme Crawford on May 25, 2018
The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (SCDHHS) has applied for a Medicaid waiver to change the way that family planning services are delivered in South Carolina. While the stated intentions of the waiver are to improve maternal and child healthcare, this change in policy will limit South Carolinians’ access to the health care provider that they choose and the health services they need.
We need your public comment to demand that women and children don’t lose access to healthcare providers and services.
SCDHHS is accepting comments on the waiver until June 4. Click here to share your concerns about restricting access to healthcare providers and services in our state.
Here are the 4 easy steps to submit your public comment by June 4:
- Visit https://msp.scdhhs.gov/pcc/webform/online-public-comment
- Fill in your name and email address in the form.
- Leave a comment stating that SCDHHS should take more time to research the impact of the preconception care model waiver and the effects it would have on patients’ access to their providers of choice.
- Press submit button.
This process takes a matter of minutes and your comments can be the deciding factor of whether patients receive the care that they need.
Part of the application process that this waiver must go through includes submitting public comments, so it’s imperative we generate as many comment as possible asking for proof that patients will not have healthcare provider options taken away from them.
According to the SCDHHS webinar on the waiver, this waiver stems from the governor’s executive order last year calling to exclude abortion clinics from our state’s Medicaid provider network. Given this, the true intention behind this waiver is clear: to remove healthcare providers who are trusted by the community and provide needed, basic healthcare services like cancer screening, contraception, testing and treatment for STIs, and abortion care.
Your voice is needed before June 4 to make sure they the department researches the impact that this waiver will have on a patient’s access to providers.
No woman or child should be denied care because of what healthcare provider they choose. Register your comment today and protect our options for healthcare.