The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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August 26, 2009

Mostly poor rely on Planned Parenthood clinic

By Mark Fischenich

MANKATO — People relying on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Mankato are overwhelmingly female, white and without private sector medical insurance, and most are below the federal poverty level.

That was true across rural Minnesota — ranging from poverty rates for patients of nearly 75 percent in Thief River Falls to 50 percent in Brainerd, according to a report released Wednesday. The 63 percent poverty rate for patients at the Mankato clinic matched the combined average of the 16 outstate clinics in Minnesota operated by the organization.

“We see a lot of women who are in poverty in rural Minnesota,” said Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

The poverty rate for a single person is an income of less than $11,000.

All but 6 percent of the 5,139 patients served by the Mankato Planned Parenthood clinic in 2008 were women, 94 percent were white and just 25 percent had private insurance. A third had government-subsidized insurance for low-income people such as Medicaid and MinnesotaCare.

The statistics show that changing the way health care is provided and paid for is particularly crucial for rural women, Stoesz said.

“I think we all understand the moment for health care reform is now,” she said.

Planned Parenthood is often seen as a provider of contraception, but the clinics also treat sexually transmitted diseases, provide annual exams, do tests aimed at catching the onset of cancer and other diseases, and provide general health care services such as testing for high cholesterol, diabetes and anemia.

The report states that rural women, along with having less ability to pay for health care and often greater distances to travel to obtain it, tend to be more unhealthy than those living in the metro area. Mental illness rates are higher, as are substance abuse, obesity and cervical cancer.

A lower percentage of rural women are generally diagnosed with cervical cancer later in the disease’s progression, leading to less successful treatment.

Stoesz suggested Congress and the Minnesota Legislature need to act to provide more accessible health care for rural women. That will cost money at a time when the federal government is facing unprecedented deficits and when the state is expected to face a shortfall in its next biennium that could top $7 billion.

“There is a financial commitment required to address some of these problems,” Stoesz said.

But the alternative is deteriorating health for many rural women and more expensive treatment when they finally obtain care, she said.

“It makes much more sense to pay up front,” she said.

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