Planned Parenthood receives $1M in Navigator grants, GOP spazzes out

Fri, 09/04/2015 - 8:31am

(sigh) I suppose this was inevitable. Wednesday, 2:27pm:

CMS awards $67 million in Affordable Care Act funding to help consumers sign-up for affordable Health Insurance Marketplace coverage in 2016

With Marketplace Open Enrollment set to begin on November 1, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced grant awards totaling $67 million to support outreach efforts designed to connect people with local help as they seek to understand the coverage options and financial assistance available at HealthCare.gov.Awarded to 100 organizations located in 34 states that operate Federally Facilitated Marketplaces, State Partnership Marketplaces, and supported State-Based Marketplaces, the three year-long Marketplace Navigator grants will fuel efforts to help consumers enroll in a health plan that fits their budget and best meets their family’s needs.

Thursday, 2:25pm:

Planned Parenthood gets $1M Obamacare grant, sparks GOP fury

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Planned Parenthood was awarded more than $1 million in grants to promote Obamacare, drawing criticism at a time when the women's healthcare provider is facing congressional investigations for allegedly selling aborted fetal tissue.

The Obama administration announced nearly $70 million in federal grants to groups promoting the healthcare law. Those grants will go to 100 groups in 34 states, including three Planned Parenthood affiliates in Iowa, Missouri and Montana. They will receive about $1 million in all.

Republican lawmakers blasted the funding, some saying it's "unconscionable" in light of nine undercover videos released by anti-abortion activist group Center for Medical Progress purporting to expose the organization's selling of aborted fetuses. Some GOP leaders have called for the organization to be completely defunded.

Of course, those Planned Parenthood videos have been thoroughly debunked, both the Hyde Amendment and the Stupak-Pitts Amendments make it illegal for federal funds to be used for abortion services, the anti-choice outfit which produced the videos is in serious legal hot water themselves, not to mention that helping people enroll in ACA exchange insurance policies has absolutely zilch to do with anything abortion-ish in the first place...but the GOP has clamped their jaws onto this "story" and won't let go, facts be damned.

For the record, that $1 million breaks down as: