Feds warn states cutting off Planned Parenthood funding

The Hill reports:

The Obama administration is stepping up its warnings to states that have taken steps to defund Planned Parenthood by cutting off Medicaid funding, a move federal health officials say is illegal.

Vikki Wachino, who leads the national Medicaid agency, sent a letter Tuesday pressuring local leaders in 10 states to drop their campaigns to disqualify Planned Parenthood from Medicaid coverage without any evidence of wrongdoing.

The three-page letter focuses on “women’s health services,” but does not specifically mention Planned Parenthood.

Wachino said Medicaid beneficiaries have a legal right to “see any 'willing and qualified' provider of their choice.” She said states don’t have the power to disqualify certain providers for reasons other than the provider’s ability to perform medical procedures.

“Such reasons may not include a desire to target a provider or set of providers for reasons unrelated to their fitness to perform covered services or the adequacy of their billing practices,” Wachino said in a veiled criticism of the GOP-led political campaigns targeting Planned Parenthood.

The Obama regime view state governments as branch offices of the federal government.