OB-GYN warns of crisis in reproductive care

Congress recently approved $1 trillion in healthcare cuts that will result in an estimated 15 million people losing access to healthcare. The signed budget also bans Planned Parenthood from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement.   

Dr. Keemi Ereme, a UW Medicine OB-GYN, is among those sounding the alarm on America’s growing healthcare crisis.    

“I’m very worried that we will have more patients who will not have access to basic care (and) who will only be able to present for care when they are absolutely in crisis,” she said.  

Ereme has treated obstetrics and gynecology patients who traveled to Seattle from Texas, Florida and other distant states. These trips, she said, were made possible only with specifically designated funds from a variety of sources and community support.   

The defunding of Planned Parenthood puts at least 200 health centers across the country at risk of closures affecting more than 1 million patients, according to a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood in July. 

For Ereme, each encounter with patients from out of state because they could not receive reproductive care elsewhere is marked by both relief and frustration: relief in being able to provide nonjudgmental, patient-centered care, and frustration that people must travel thousands of miles and spend beyond their means for what she describes as basic healthcare.  

Hear more from Ereme in these downloadable video soundbites.