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Eight years after Texas lost federal dollars over barring Planned Parenthood in a women’s health program, the Trump administration Wednesday allowed the state to resume getting as much as $350 million in another reversal of an Obama-era decision. Texas can receive the money over the next five years while still excluding Planned Parenthood from a state program called Healthy Texas Women that offers family planning and health services, such as pregnancy tests and breast cancer exams, to low-income families. (Weber, 1/22)

The Wednesday announcement from the Trump administration reverses an Obama-era decision to cut federal women’s health funding to Texas starting in 2013. That came as punishment after the Texas Legislature excluded Planned Parenthood from the Healthy Texas Women program in 2011 because of the organization’s affiliation with abortion providers, though the women’s health program does not fund abortion. "The Lone Star State is once again in partnership with the federal government to provide meaningful family planning and health services while fostering a culture of life," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a Wednesday statement. (Walters, 1/22)

As part of its ongoing effort to defund Planned Parenthood, Texas kicked the organization out of its low-income Medicaid women’s health program in 2013, a move that the Obama administration found to be in violation of federal law. Rather than include Planned Parenthood in the program, Texas opted to leave millions in federal funding on the table, instead creating its own state-funded replacement program now called Healthy Texas Women. With Trump in office, state officials hoped they’d have an ideological ally, and in 2017 filed an 1115 Medicaid Waiver request to restore the federal funds without including abortion providers or their affiliates. (Novack, 1/22)

The state applied for the Medicaid waiver in 2017. The state Health and Human Services Commission said the agreement for the state to receive about $350 million in federal funds over five years was reached on Wednesday. The federal government will contribute an average of $69 million to the program each year while the state provides an average of about $20 million per year. “With Governor Abbott’s strong leadership, we continue making significant strides in improving access to women’s health and family planning services in Texas,” said Courtney N. Phillips, HHS executive commissioner. (Mendez, 1/22)

Texas officials were able to obtain the federal funding by undergoing a process called the 1115 demonstration waiver, in which states can bypass Medicaid rules to receive funding if they can show they will improve health care for residents. But state officials didn’t sufficiently demonstrate that they would achieve those goals because the state doesn’t plan on changing eligibility of the program or expanding services, according to policy experts who have opposed the exclusion of Planned Parenthood from the women’s health program. (Chang, 1/22)

The long-awaited decision from HHS could pave the way for other conservative states to exclude abortion providers from their federally-funded family planning programs. While federal law already prohibits federal funding from paying for abortions in most circumstances, opponents argue any money that flows to Planned Parenthood or other abortion providers can indirectly support the procedure. (Hellmann, 1/22)