MCALLEN, Texas - Texas has cut funding to family-planning services more deeply than any other state, according to a new study. The three-year study by the University of Texas' Population Research Center is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

More than 60 clinics have closed so far, while others have reduced hours, increased fees and restricted services. The effect on low-income women has already been dramatic, and with the state's Women's Health Program on the brink of losing all federal aid, further cuts are on the way.

Patricio Gonzales is CEO for Planned Parenthood of Hidalgo and Starr Counties, in the impoverished Rio Grande Valley, where four of his eight clinics had to shut down last year. He says more than 15,000 area women now have nowhere to go for their health-care services.

"These services are life-saving, for cancer screenings, for birth control, for physical exams, because no other provider can pick up these women. And if these women don't have access to this program, well, they're going to go without."

Legislators in 2011 slashed family planning aid by two-thirds, or $73 million. Then, they ignored federal Medicaid rules by excluding certain clinics, such as Planned Parenthood's, from the Women's Health Program, causing the feds to cut off more than $30 million a year in subsidies. The state is fighting that move in court.

Family planning has become a political lightning rod nationally, and presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he wants to eliminate Title X, the program that has ensured preventive-health and contraceptive services since 1970. Gonzalez says politicians should take a close look at Texas, where he thinks low-income women have become the nation's "canaries in the coal mine."

"This is just a sample of what will happen if politics continue to threaten Title X in other states. We have closed clinics, we have laid off staff. We have dismantled the safety net that we created so many years ago."

State officials say they're busy enlisting comprehensive health-care providers to take up the slack, but Gonzales doubts that the women who are losing their clinic-based care will be able to get into, or afford, the alternatives.

Gonzales thinks politics, not budgets, are mainly responsible for the cuts. Lawmakers argue they're making sure public money doesn't pay for abortions, something that Title X already prohibits. He says spending on preventive services saves money by reducing emergency-room care and unintended pregnancies.

"For every one dollar invested in family planning you save four dollars. It's a great investment for our taxpayers and our community."

On average, Planned Parenthood clinics get about two-thirds of their income from donations and fees paid by the clients they serve; the rest comes from public aid. That's why more clinics are shutting down in poor areas where clients can't afford fees.

Gonzales says at least two of his remaining Valley clinics will have to shut down if Texas loses its federal Women's Health Program aid, as scheduled, on November 1.

See the NEJM study at bit.ly/Qo8L3b.




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Missouri residents are gaining new insights into the powerful role of food in health care as experts and organizations advocate for a shift toward food-as-medicine initiatives.

Kelsey Gardiner, assistant professor of nursing and health studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, emphasized the critical link between access to healthy food and improved health outcomes. She noted individuals facing food insecurity often experience higher rates of chronic diseases, highlighting the urgent need for systemic changes to enhance food access.

"There are things we can do and there are certain shifts nationally that are happening, whether that be through policy or through infrastructure changes," Gardiner pointed out. "We can be doing more in the state of Missouri in order to help increase access to healthy food that can directly tie into better health outcomes."

Gardiner underscored the potential of food-as-medicine interventions in preventing chronic conditions and reducing health care costs. She said recent studies show such interventions can lead to $13.6 billion over one year in cost savings and several improved health outcomes, making them a valuable addition to health care strategies.

Kael Martin, people impact strategist for the Health Forward Foundation, said focusing on communities affected by structural racism, socioeconomic challenges and limited health care access is paramount. Food as medicine is seen as a strategic approach to promote health equity, particularly in areas where systemic barriers hinder optimal health.

"We know that eating healthy can prevent chronic disease, but it can be a treatment option as well," Martin stressed. "To have that connection within our health care system, to really integrate these interventions, can be really impactful for many patients."

While progress is underway nationally and in other states such as Massachusetts, California and North Carolina, Missouri is still developing its approach to integrate food as medicine into health care systems and policies. Efforts to push for legislation supporting these initiatives are in progress, with some federal legislation around medically tailored meals garnering support.

As many Wyomingites await their 2023 federal income tax refunds, a new National Priorities Project report breaks down how the money they won't get back is being spent.

Co-author Lindsay Koshgarian, program director for the National Priorities Project, said this year's Tax Receipt shows that - while many school districts in Wyoming and across the U.S. are facing major budget cuts - the average taxpayer is contributing thousands of dollars to military contractors, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon.

"So whereas the average Wyoming taxpayer was giving almost $2,300 to corporate pentagon contractors," said Koshgarian, "they were giving only $455 for public education in our K-12 schools."

The average American household paid over $5,000 for militarism and support systems, but invested just $110 in the Child Tax Credit - which cut child poverty in half during pandemic era changes.

The Pentagon has failed to account for money spent in audits for the past six years. But its defenders argue tax dollars create jobs and maintain global security in the face of competitors, including China.

Koshgarian said corporate contractors can create jobs, especially in key Congressional districts.

She pointed to Brown University research showing that $1 billion in military spending adds roughly 11,000 jobs.

By comparison, $1 billion would add nearly 27,000 education, and 17,000 healthcare jobs.

"But if we put that same money into other things like education or infrastructure or healthcare," said Koshgarian, "we could actually create more good jobs with the same amount of money."

The U.S. Department of Defense has known about the existential threat of climate change for decades, and wildfires now cost upward of $394 billion in damages each year.

But the average taxpayer invested just $14 in wildfire management.

Koshgarian said she believes concerns about protecting international security, which largely serve corporate interests, are overblown.

"The U.S. is already the top military spender in the world by far," said Koshgarian. "We spend more than the next 10 militaries combined. We have the most capable military by far in the world, and no one disputes that."




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A New Mexico resident will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address tonight as legislation is pending to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The measure was passed in 1990, with money going to residents of the Southwest who were harmed, either from uranium mining or atomic tests in 1945. The original legislation included "downwinders" in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. But New Mexico was left out, despite the state being home to the world's first atomic bomb testing and explosion.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has made it her life's work to get New Mexico families compensated.

"I've been working for 19 years to bring attention to the negative health effects the people of New Mexico suffered," Cordova explained. "The Trinity bomb was detonated in the middle of our state and adjacent to a bunch of towns where 13,000 people lived in a 50-mile radius."

Cordova was invited to the annual Presidential address by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. In the coming days, the Senate is scheduled to vote on legislation to reauthorize the act, now scheduled to end in June.

Cordova pointed out the more than 30-year-old compensation program was an admission of guilt on the part of the government but left out many of those harmed. She knows families who have lost relatives to cancer, some within 10 years of the nuclear bomb testing.

"I just hope that people who know I'm present, realize that we will never give up the fight," Cordova asserted. "We will work very hard to get the RECA amendments passed this year, but if by some chance that doesn't happen, we will continue to fight this fight for justice as long as it takes."

This Sunday, the Hollywood blockbuster, Oppenheimer, about the creation of the atomic bomb, is a favorite to win best picture at the 2024 Academy Awards. The film did not address effects to those downwind of the bombing site.


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