Deschutes County officials are looking into the possibility of dropping the family planning services they offer to the public. They’re in no rush — with budget work only just beginning, the county has until July to complete its budget for 2018-19.

That’s good. The county offers family planning services in Bend, Redmond and La Pine, and patients are billed on a sliding scale, depending upon their income. Those with the least income actually get services and medication for free.

The Affordable Care Act is responsible for a huge expansion of Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid) coverage, so much so that more than 90 percent of state residents have health insurance in one form or another. Add to that a law adopted by the Oregon Legislature that requires insurers to include family planning services in their policies at no cost to purchasers, and the vast majority of Oregonians need not worry about paying for family planning services like birth control.

But some still might need free services, and if closing the county’s clinics makes it difficult to receive them, it’s a problem.

It’s true those patients can go to Planned Parenthood in Bend and receive family planning services for free. That’s great for Bend residents, less so for those living elsewhere. Residents of Redmond and La Pine, particularly those with limited income, may find it difficult to travel 15 to 30 miles each way to obtain birth control, as they would have to do if the county’s family planning clinics closed.

There’s another potential problem as well. Changes made in the Affordable Care Act in 2017 may well make it less financially viable in the years ahead, and the system it created could collapse without a replacement. Were that to happen, low-income Oregonians would be hit particularly hard, and the need for county family health services would likely grow.

All that argues for a go-slow approach on the part of the county. Officials should think hard before they end a service they may have to replace in just a few years.