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Planned Parenthood is being eradicated in this country.

by feld 10y ago

elastic_church 10y ago
On that subject I wanted to ask: Are the services that Planned Parenthood provide so economically unviable that they require the life support and political will of the US Government? Why can't a competitor or even a Bill Gates philanthropic initiative be a private sector version of the same thing?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- rabboRubble 10y ago
  Here's a case that proves Planned Parenthood's unique function. PP offers rapid HIV testing. I get a test every year because you catch that shit early, the available treatments give you a nearly normal life. Now this last year, I didn't go to PP for my annual lady check up for reasons that are long and boring. So I asked my primary care physician during the annual everything else check up for a rapid test. She didn't have it and was surprised PP did. So instead of a finger prick I got a blood draw and waited. Weeks later I got a test report for everything else tested for (liver / diabetes / etc.) except the HIV and other STD tests. I ended up having to call to get the results. So compare the 10 minute HIV test with immediate results versus the 8 week odyssey for finding out my sexual health status. Planned Parenthood is brilliant at what they do. They do it well. Primary care physicians are shiat at reproductive health.
  - zadig 10y ago
    Yeah, the advantage of PP is that (1) they are specialized and (2) they have a large patient volume that allows them to negotiate medical products in bulk. That allows them to provide reproductive health care cheaper and more efficiently with just as good if not better patient outcomes than any other service.
  - elastic_church 10y ago
    Okay, that sounds like a user experience problem, of which federal funding has nothing to do with? A private organization could offer the same thing without needing to be "in network" like your PCP? I'm guessing
    - rabboRubble 10y ago
      Normally, out of network means not covered by my insurance. Or covered at a greatly reduced rate. If there were a private organization that was as earnest and competent at providing full service reproductive care up to and including abortive treatments, I would definitely consider them as an option. Such an organization does not exist as of today. I can't postpone medical care until such time an organization like that exists. Ah! I have another story that demonstrates how awesome Planned Parenthood is. So I came back from overseas and needed a non-emergency but urgent visit. I had insurance. Overseas insurance. I called around to OBGYNs around town without having a local PCP. Obviously having just come from overseas, I didnt' have a local doctor. Nobody would take me. I told them I would pay 100% cash. Still no takers. Planned Parenthood did. They took my appointment, gave me a price, I paid 100% of the charge, and they filled out my foreign insurance paperwork in a foreign language. Why is Planned Parenthood so much better at providing reproductive care and so much more accessible than OBGYNs?
      - elastic_church 10y ago
        Typically companies that can depend on the state to keep the lights on offer worse service. Conceptually. This sounds like a user experience situation, a commitment to customer service, that has nothing to do with their federal funding. Yes they would have to adjust or find a real revenue stream, but I think it is mutually exclusive, unless it just simply is economically unviable. I would totally hope there is no disruption in service. I'm just trying to understand what advantages Planned Parenthood actually has in the marketplace - outside of being a political football - that prevents alternatives from being available.
        rabboRubble 10y ago
- runamok 10y ago
  Additionally federal funds at least in 2009 were about 1/3rd of PP's budget. http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/ http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/
  - elastic_church 10y ago
    so defunding it is symbolic at best competitors can exist, and I'm assuming might already?
    - runamok 10y ago
      Wellll, 33% of your revenue being cut means a lot of people get fired and services degrade so I would not say it's symbolic. Abortions also count for only about 3% of their spending. Yes, they are a lightening rod for controversy. Yes, this place seems to be a competitor but not sure what the costs and such are: http://www.realoptions.net/ http://www.realoptions.net/
      - adrienne 10y ago
        No, that place is a Crisis Pregnancy Center (an anti-abortion facility set up to look like a real repro health clinic). You can tell from the scaremongering about abortion they do here, for instance: http://www.realoptions.net/options/abortion/ http://www.realoptions.net/options/abortion/ They are not an alternative to Planned Parenthood, they are a vile unethical pretend-clinic taking advantage of the confusion of desperate women.
        runamok 10y ago
        I had visited that page and kind of suspected that. I just was fairly shocked that such a thing would exist in the heart of Silicon Valley (Mountain View, aka the home of Google). I wish these people would put all this "love of life" energy into actually taking good care of all the unwanted children that already exist... From what I have read and heard from people in the know our foster and adoption systems are beyond broken.
loafa 10y ago
No it isn't, and if you believe it is then you've been watching fake news. Only the portion of PP's budget that comes from the Federal Govt is being cut.

Planned Parenthood is being eradicated in this country.

by feld 10y ago

Planned Parenthood is being eradicated in this country.

On that subject I wanted to ask: Are the services that Planned Parenthood provide so economically unviable that they require the life support and political will of the US Government? Why can't a competitor or even a Bill Gates philanthropic initiative be a private sector version of the same thing?

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rabboRubble 10y ago
Here's a case that proves Planned Parenthood's unique function. PP offers rapid HIV testing. I get a test every year because you catch that shit early, the available treatments give you a nearly normal life. Now this last year, I didn't go to PP for my annual lady check up for reasons that are long and boring. So I asked my primary care physician during the annual everything else check up for a rapid test. She didn't have it and was surprised PP did. So instead of a finger prick I got a blood draw and waited. Weeks later I got a test report for everything else tested for (liver / diabetes / etc.) except the HIV and other STD tests. I ended up having to call to get the results. So compare the 10 minute HIV test with immediate results versus the 8 week odyssey for finding out my sexual health status. Planned Parenthood is brilliant at what they do. They do it well. Primary care physicians are shiat at reproductive health.
- zadig 10y ago
  Yeah, the advantage of PP is that (1) they are specialized and (2) they have a large patient volume that allows them to negotiate medical products in bulk. That allows them to provide reproductive health care cheaper and more efficiently with just as good if not better patient outcomes than any other service.
- elastic_church 10y ago
  Okay, that sounds like a user experience problem, of which federal funding has nothing to do with? A private organization could offer the same thing without needing to be "in network" like your PCP? I'm guessing
  - rabboRubble 10y ago
    Normally, out of network means not covered by my insurance. Or covered at a greatly reduced rate. If there were a private organization that was as earnest and competent at providing full service reproductive care up to and including abortive treatments, I would definitely consider them as an option. Such an organization does not exist as of today. I can't postpone medical care until such time an organization like that exists. Ah! I have another story that demonstrates how awesome Planned Parenthood is. So I came back from overseas and needed a non-emergency but urgent visit. I had insurance. Overseas insurance. I called around to OBGYNs around town without having a local PCP. Obviously having just come from overseas, I didnt' have a local doctor. Nobody would take me. I told them I would pay 100% cash. Still no takers. Planned Parenthood did. They took my appointment, gave me a price, I paid 100% of the charge, and they filled out my foreign insurance paperwork in a foreign language. Why is Planned Parenthood so much better at providing reproductive care and so much more accessible than OBGYNs?
    - elastic_church 10y ago
      Typically companies that can depend on the state to keep the lights on offer worse service. Conceptually. This sounds like a user experience situation, a commitment to customer service, that has nothing to do with their federal funding. Yes they would have to adjust or find a real revenue stream, but I think it is mutually exclusive, unless it just simply is economically unviable. I would totally hope there is no disruption in service. I'm just trying to understand what advantages Planned Parenthood actually has in the marketplace - outside of being a political football - that prevents alternatives from being available.
      - rabboRubble 10y ago
runamok 10y ago
Additionally federal funds at least in 2009 were about 1/3rd of PP's budget. http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/ http://www.factcheck.org/2011/04/planned-parenthood/
- elastic_church 10y ago
  so defunding it is symbolic at best competitors can exist, and I'm assuming might already?
  - runamok 10y ago
    Wellll, 33% of your revenue being cut means a lot of people get fired and services degrade so I would not say it's symbolic. Abortions also count for only about 3% of their spending. Yes, they are a lightening rod for controversy. Yes, this place seems to be a competitor but not sure what the costs and such are: http://www.realoptions.net/ http://www.realoptions.net/
    - adrienne 10y ago
      No, that place is a Crisis Pregnancy Center (an anti-abortion facility set up to look like a real repro health clinic). You can tell from the scaremongering about abortion they do here, for instance: http://www.realoptions.net/options/abortion/ http://www.realoptions.net/options/abortion/ They are not an alternative to Planned Parenthood, they are a vile unethical pretend-clinic taking advantage of the confusion of desperate women.
      - runamok 10y ago
        I had visited that page and kind of suspected that. I just was fairly shocked that such a thing would exist in the heart of Silicon Valley (Mountain View, aka the home of Google). I wish these people would put all this "love of life" energy into actually taking good care of all the unwanted children that already exist... From what I have read and heard from people in the know our foster and adoption systems are beyond broken.

loafa 10y ago

No it isn't, and if you believe it is then you've been watching fake news. Only the portion of PP's budget that comes from the Federal Govt is being cut.