Planned Parenthood is organ farming

[Vince]

No. Or at the least that's an intensely misleading way to put it.

Texas is not required to participate in Medicaid. Texas can shut the whole thing down and stop taking federal money. But what they can not do is take the federal money and then ignore the federal laws that describe how that money will be spent. And 42 CFR 431.51 clearly states that a Medicaid recipient has the right to choose who they get their medical care from as long as that party is qualified and willing to provide service. The state can rule parties unqualified and refuse to pay the Medicaid payments, sure, but they have to provide evidence of a lack of qualifications or of some sort of medical misconduct to do this. They can't just do it because they feel like it. And in this case the state has failed to provide any evidence.

If Texas conservatives want to stop Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood that's fine, they can man up and cancel the entire statewide Medicaid program and face the consequences of that. But trying to be sneaky - and illegal - about it like this is conniving bullshit.

Actually, I'd flip that the other way. If you (the federal government) want to control where this money goes, take the state out of the loop and administer it yourself. Stop sucking off the state's infrastructure to hand this out.

[Vince]

And 42 CFR 431.51 clearly states that a Medicaid recipient has the right to choose who they get their medical care from as long as that party is qualified and willing to provide service.

Interesting. Who passed that law?

[Malcolm]

If you (the federal government) want to control where this money goes, take the state out of the loop and administer it yourself. Stop sucking off the state's infrastructure to hand this out.

Then the states bitch about the feds overstepping their authority.

[Malcolm]

And 42 CFR 431.51 clearly states that a Medicaid recipient has the right to choose who they get their medical care from as long as that party is qualified and willing to provide service.

Interesting. Who passed that law?

It appears a federal law was passed in December which explicitly says that the individual states get zero leeway to fuck over their citizens who've come to depend upon medical services.

"A secretly recorded video, fake names, a grand jury indictment, congressional investigations — these are the building blocks of a best-selling novel rather than a case concerning the interplay of federal and state authority through the Medicaid program.

"Yet, rather than a villain plotting to take over the world, the subject of this case is the State of Texas's efforts to expel a group of health care providers from a social health care program for families and individuals with limited resources. Stalling for nearly a year after issuing an initial notice of termination, HHSC reinitiated its efforts to terminate Planned Parenthood health care providers from the Texas Medicaid program.

"Following extensive investigations, the Inspector General's reasons for termination constituted unsubstantiated and indeterminate allegations, including a 'policy of agreeing to' and a 'willingness' to violate medical and ethical standards. Without any evidence indicating an actual program violation warranting termination, the Inspector General nevertheless acted to terminate one of the Provider Plaintiffs from the Texas Medicaid program and sought to terminate the other Provider Plaintiffs by extension."

[TPRJones]

If you (the federal government) want to control where this money goes, take the state out of the loop and administer it yourself. Stop sucking off the state's infrastructure to hand this out.

Hey, I'm with you there. Personally I'd like to see the federal government fuck right off on most topics and focus on just protecting citizens' rights from the states and let the states decide the rest. But as long as we're stuck with a shit system I'm not going to sit by while someone abuses that shit to screw over someone else. If we have to play by stupid rules then everyone has to play by the same stupid rules. That's equality.

[Vince]

Is this a law or a federal regulation?

[TPRJones]

It's part of the US Code. So it came out of Congress at some point as a bill - or part of a bill - and then was folded into the pre-existing code. I'm sure there's some reference somewhere that links congressional acts to the Code, but I don't know where to find that.

[Vince]

From what I was seeing it looked like a regulation coming out of DHS.

[Malcolm]

From what I was seeing it looked like a regulation coming out of DHS.

Most likely the DHHS -- Department of Health and Human Services.

[TPRJones]

I don't think regulations from DHS can be part of the US Code, can they? I though the US Code was only comprised of enacted congressional bills.

I could certainly be wrong, though. IANAL.

[TheCatt]

IANAL.

Leave your personal fetishes out of this.

[GORDON]

IANAL.

Leave your personal fetishes out of this.

That's also poor grammar.

[Vince]

I don't think regulations from DHS can be part of the US Code, can they? I though the US Code was only comprised of enacted congressional bills.

I could certainly be wrong, though. IANAL.

I honestly don't know either. I would expect that they'd have to be part of the US code for the DOJ to be able to act upon their enforcement, wouldn't they?

[Malcolm]

If it's federally funded health services, then it must be the HHS DHHS (emphases mine):

The Department of Health and Human Services' administers 115 programs across its 11 operating divisions. Some highlights include:

Health and social science research
Preventing disease, including immunization services
Assuring food and drug safety
Medicare (health insurance for elderly and disabled Americans) and Medicaid (health insurance for low-income people)
Health information technology
Financial assistance and services for low-income families
Improving maternal and infant health, including a Nurse Home Visitation to support first-time mothers
Head Start (pre-school education and services)
Faith-based and community initiatives
Preventing child abuse and domestic violence
Substance abuse treatment and prevention
Services for older Americans, including home-delivered meals
Comprehensive health services for Native Americans (this is a BIG thing in MN)
Assets for Independence
Medical preparedness for emergencies, including potential terrorism
Child support enforcement

[Vince]

It's part of the US Code. So it came out of Congress at some point as a bill - or part of a bill - and then was folded into the pre-existing code. I'm sure there's some reference somewhere that links congressional acts to the Code, but I don't know where to find that.

Okay, found here...

Regulations promulgated by executive agencies through the rulemaking process set out in the Administrative Procedure Act are published chronologically in the Federal Register and then codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.). Similarly, state statutes and regulations are often codified into state-specific codes.

So what you referenced came from the CFR and was never passed by congress. That's what I was thinking, and that's where my dispute with this comes from. You have a code passed by unelected bureaucrats, opposed by an actual law passed by an elected body, being struck down by unelected judges. As a Constitutionalist, this bothers me.

But the departments and bureaucrats are actually the manifestation of what you were talking about in cowardice. Congress should actually pass the laws and deal with the consequences. At least the state legislation of Texas had more balls than the federal law makers.

[Malcolm]

Felony indictments.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden of Davis, California, and Sandra Merritt of San Jose. The two operate the Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress.

The allegations say the pair filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person. The 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.

[Vince]

Felony indictments.

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden of Davis, California, and Sandra Merritt of San Jose. The two operate the Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress.

The allegations say the pair filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person. The 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy.

This should go down in flames and hopefully these guys can sue for legal costs. The CA courts have already ruled on a previous case that the two party rule on recorded conversations are deemed private only when there is a reasonable expectation of privacy when and where the conversation took place. In the case that's already been adjudicated, the people in question were at a restaurant and the courts found there would be no expectation of privacy in a public restaurant. This is almost a carbon copy of that case.

State attorney general Xavier Becerra accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood during his congressional campaigns.

I'm legitimately surprised that there isn't more word from reporters defending them. I wonder what would have happened at Willowbrook if that were happening today in CA and they were connected to deeply into the Democrat party?

[GORDON]

I said back on day 1 that the only people who would get in any trouble were the whistle blowers.

[TheCatt]

I said back on day 1 that the only people who would get in any trouble were the whistle blowers.

So far, they were the only ones doing something wrong.

[GORDON]

I guess that makes me a genius then since I said they would be the only one that anyone would care about, with their completely fictitious and made-up videos.