OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The governor of Oklahoma is calling for the state’s Health Care Authority Board to cancel its contract with the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
Gov. Mary Fallin sent a letter on Wednesday to Director Nico Gomez to outline her reasons for pulling the funding.
“Research strongly suggests that Planned Parenthood and its Oklahoma and national affiliates regularly, whether intentionally or negligently, engage in a pattern of practices resulting in the overbilling of state Medicaid programs,” she wrote. “Numerous False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuits around the country have also alleged potential fraud by Planned Parenthood affiliates.”
Fallin noted that the October Program and Integrity Review surrounding Planned Parenthood affiliates in Oklahoma shows that “more than one in every seven bills submitted for payment … are inaccurately coded or insufficiently documented.”
“These errors result in overbilling to the Oklahoma taxpayer,” she said.
The governor therefore called for the termination of the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood and any other organization found to be overbilling for services.
“Indeed whether willful or simply negligent, the consistent submission of improper billings should disqualify these Planned Parenthood providers from participation in the Oklahoma Medicaid program,” Fallin stated.
The religious liberties organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) says that it agrees with Fallin.
“Governor Fallin is right to recognize that taxpayer money should go to fund local community health centers, not to subsidize a scandal-ridden, billion-dollar abortion business,” ADF Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek said in a press release on Thursday.
“Oklahomans shouldn’t be forced to give their money to Planned Parenthood, which has a long track record of abusive and potentially fraudulent billing practices, not to mention that it has also been caught in authenticated undercover videos trafficking aborted babies’ body parts and has repeatedly failed to report the sexual abuse of girls,” she continued. “That tax money should be redirected to trusted health care providers.”
As previously reported, the state of Texas recently terminated its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast for similar reasons.
“[T]here is reliable information indicating a pattern of illegal billing practices by Planned Parenthood affiliates, including you, across the state,” the Texas Health and Human Services Commission wrote in a letter to the organization. “Our prima facie case of fraud is supported by related cases involving fraudulent practices identified by whistleblowers from inside the Texas Planned Parenthood network.”
It further noted that Planned Parenthood locations violated safety protocols surrounding the spread of infectious diseases.
“Specifically, you allowed individuals posing as commercial buyers of fetal body parts to handle bloody fetal tissue while wearing only gloves,” the Commission outlines, referring to undercover footage released by the Center for Medical Progress this summer.
Fallin did not mention the expose’ videos in her letter last week.
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