By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – Three reproductive health centers that provide 80 percent of the state’s contraceptive services for more than 10,000 women, many of modest means, had their two-year contracts rejected by the state’s Executive Council along partisan lines Wednesday.
The decision will make it more expensive and harder to receive those services and add burdens to emergency rooms and other areas of the state’s health-care system that is now overwhelmed with COVID-19, providers said.
Three other contracts for reproductive health-care centers that do not provide abortions did receive approval.
The council also approved funding for more COVID-19 vaccination sites and testing, along with a campaign to encourage vaccinations.
No federal or state funds can pay for abortions under law, but Republican councilors said they still have unanswered questions about how the funds are separated.
Voting to reject the contracts were Republican Executive Councilors Joe Kenney of Wakefield, Janet Stevens of Rye, Ted Gatsas of Manchester and David Wheeler of Milford.
This vote followed a similar path of a September vote to provide short-term funding for those clinics.
Democrat Cinde Warmington of Concord was the lone supporter of all the contracts.
She asked the Republican majority to put aside politics and support public health at a time when the health-care system in the state is overwhelmed by a pandemic.
Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who supported the contracts, asked for reconsideration and said that the matter is not over.
The three clinics that were denied funding are Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, which would have received $125,00 in support for this facility in Claremont, Manchester, Keene, Derry, and Exeter; Joan G. Lovering Health Center in Greenland which would have received $336,934 and Concord Feminist Health Center (doing business as Equality Health Center) which would have received $558,395.
The contracts approved were for Amoskeag Health of Manchester for $335,512, Coos County Family Health of Berlin for $268,152, and Lamprey Health Care of Nashua for an approved contract of $431,505.
“This is shameful,” Kayla Montgomery, vice president for public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, “once again, four Executive Councilors have chosen to reject public health experts and put their own personal politics before the health of our state.”
Montgomery said the rejection of these funds “harms the delivery of essential health care and marginalizes granite staters.”
She stressed that there were “no unanswered questions” and that the councilors have made it clear where they stand and that it is unlikely that there will be a change in the vote.
“Rejection of these funds today only put added stress on our health-care system,” Montgomery said.
Condemnation of the vote came swiftly from U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, and other state Democratic leaders.
Shaheen noted the vote comes on the heels of oral arguments for a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court case threatening the future of Roe v. Wade.
“The obsession over controlling women’s bodies and the future of their families is disturbing and wildly out of touch with Granite Staters,” said Shaheen. “Let’s talk about what New Hampshire Republicans have done in the last year: they imposed an abortion ban, instituted unnecessary and costly ultrasounds and now they’re cutting off funds to health centers because they want to dictate what kind of health services Granite State women seek.
“By doubling down on their decision to defund family planning contracts, state Republicans are sending a message to women that they cannot be trusted to make their own health decisions. Sacrificing health to score political points is an egregious assault on women, as well as our families, many of whom rely on these family planning centers as their only resource for health care. As we face a surge in COVID, the scope of the Executive Council’s decision will reach far and wide, compromising access not only for women’s reproductive health but also family health during the worst possible time. Executive Council Republicans’ partisan politics are putting Granite Staters in danger. It has to end,” Shaheen said.
Vax Campaign Cash
The Executive Council approved about $1 million more for an advertising campaign with GYK Antler of Manchester to get the continued message out to people to be vaccinated to protect them and others from COVID-19.
New Hampshire has among the worst vaccination percentages in New England but is putting out added efforts to create new fixed sites and provide mobile clinics to address demand, which has increased since the Omicron variant’s arrival.
The vote was 4-1 with Councilor Wheeler casting the dissenting vote.
“We are very much in a crisis situation,” said Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette.
Shibinette said the number of people taking boosters is unknown but could come into a clearer picture in January, as a delay in funding from the council of $27 million in federal funds earlier this year allowed the state’s vaccination registry efforts to lag.
Councilor Warmington, the lone Democrat, asked Shibinette how they decide on the messaging for the advertisements aimed to encourage the hesitant to get vaccinated.
Shibinette said they look at various opinion surveys including ones by UNH which help target what works best.
She said one of the more popular ads included a person who was hesitant but decided to get vaccinated and another by a doctor.
Warmington has in the past criticized the efforts as focusing on political figures such as the governor.
New Sites, Testing
After initially tabling the request for new fixed sites and testing and reconsideration sought by Sununu, the council approved several contracts, including a $7.2 million contract with Convenient MD LLC of Portsmouth, to administer COVID-19 vaccinations at up to six COVID-19 sites statewide.
The funding is immediately available and the approval is through June 30, 2022, with the option to renew for up to one additional year using 100 percent federal funds.
Additionally, it authorized an amendment to an existing contract with ClearChoiceMD, New London, for COVID-19 testing at eight existing locations across the state, by increasing the contract price by $20,000,000 from $8,822,660 to $28,822,660, and by extending the completion date from December 31, 2021, to March 31, 2022, also using federal funds.
These are sole-source contracts, meaning no one bid on them, and that was a source of concern voiced by councilors Gatsas and Wheeler.
Sununu said the contracts are needed now in a crisis rather than waiting four months to put it out to bid with a Request for Proposals and a lengthy scoring process to get to a recommended contractor.
The sites will not be at the existing urgent care centers but in empty storefronts in statewide so that everyone knows that the vaccines are free and separate from the medical facilities.
“My problem, governor, is we are getting away from what the state is known for,”
Gatsas said, “and that is selectivity…I understand we are in an epidemic and they need vaccines…but when we start getting away from bidding on a product…it just isn’t right.”
Sununu said the traditional RFP process is a minimum of three months.
“I agree with you 100 percent,” Sununu said, but he noted we are in a pandemic.
Gatsas said he was hearing from other providers who did not get the bid and suggested the contract be split up to allow them to participate.
Shibinette said “companies complaining to you have received sole-source contracts during the pandemic,” and added there is a sense of urgency to vaccinate people with more than 460 people currently hospitalized in the state with COVID-19.
“We need to get needles in arms now,” she said.
The sites will join a similar existing complement by contractor On Site where people can go without an appointment from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. six days a week to get a vaccination, be it a booster or an initial or secondary dose, free of charge.
There are actually three providers now, the commissioner said.
“We don’t want to be reliant on one company,” Shibinette said, noting the state has intentionally split the federal dollars with three companies.
State Rep Sworn In
Following a recent special election in Derry, Jodi Nelson, the winner, was sworn in by the governor just before the Executive Council meeting.
Nelson is a Republican who replaces Republican state Rep. Anne Copp who resigned last summer. Nelson is a businesswoman who beat Democrat Mary Eisner.
The Republicans now have a 207-188 majority in the House.
Resignation
Marguerite Wageling of Manchester resigned as justice of the Superior Court.
Christmas Reading
Rather than a traditional prayer, Sununu chose to read to the council the concluding passages from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” by Dr. Seuss and wished all a Merry Christmas.
The story is about how an imaginary village reacted to finding that there were no Christmas presents which surprised an outcast as they were singing together in unison. The passage was the conclusion of the book with the Grinch pondering the meaning of the holiday.
Perhaps it was about more than just material items. Sununu said he thought of it as he has been waking at 2 a.m. to look at social media and said he is hopeful that next year will be a better and more unified one for all.
