Website shines light on which health plans cover abortion

Last updated on: November 24, 2014 at 5:47 pm by CNA Daily News

Website shines light on which health plans cover abortion 2014-11-24T17:47:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Washington D.C., Nov 24, 2014 / 10:47 am (CNA).- A new website informing Americans whether or not their health plans cover abortion is up and running, with advocates saying it provides the transparency in the health care law that the government failed to deliver.

The website ObamacareAbortion.com seeks to “inform Americans about abortion coverage in Obamacare plans and expose the great difficulty in obtaining this information,” the Family Research Council’s Arina Grossu stated at a Nov 20 Capitol Hill press conference.

Current U.S. laws such as the Hyde Amendment prevent the federal funding of abortion for many government programs. However, the amendment does not apply to the Affordable Care Act, which has its own sources of funding, rather than seeking funding through the annual appropriations bills.

Debates over abortion funding in the 2010 health care law threatened to prevent its passage, as a group of pro-life Democrats said they would only support the legislation if abortion funding were excluded.

In response, President Obama promised an executive order to ban this funding. At the time, numerous pro-life groups warned that the order was legally unenforceable and would have no actual impact on the legislation.

But a September report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office – an independent government watchdog – found that the executive order had not been followed, and federal subsidies were funding abortions in more than 1,000 health plans across the country.

The report found that in five separate states, all of the plans that were offered on the health care insurance exchanges covered abortion. In addition, the stipulation that abortion coverage be funded through a separate surcharge was not followed by many health issuers.

Genevieve Plaster of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said that of the 5.4 million who purchased health insurance on the exchanges in 2014, 87 percent used federal subsidies to pay for their coverage. Many of these health plans covered abortions, she added.

The website was created as a response to this problem, the joint project of the Family Research Council and the Charlotte Lozier Institute. It attempts to inform customers whether or not their health plan on the exchanges for 2015 covers abortion.

Some things have changed already for the 2015 year. Plaster noted that one insurance company has already “changed over all of its individual exchange plans to now cover elective abortion.”

“When it comes to public funding for abortion, the new 2015 Open Enrollment is at least as bad – and probably worse – than last year,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) stated at the press conference.

According to Grossu, for 2015 “most likely” all the health plans cover abortions in four separate states – Hawaii, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Vermont – and in five others almost all of the plans will “most likely” cover abortions.

Information on abortion coverage on the health exchanges was very hard to come by, Plaster added.

“Most summaries of benefits and coverage,” she noted, “were completely silent on abortion coverage.”

“I was referred back and forth on phone calls within insurance departments and between companies and the exchanges themselves, sometimes to no avail,” she said. “The current administration and Department of Health and Human Services seem to have made no effort to enforce transparency in the exchanges and with health insurance carriers about abortions,” she concluded.”

Previous Post

November 24, 2014

Cardinal Sarah appointment paves the way for new Curia

Next Post

November 24, 2014 Human dignity at risk in Europe, advocates warn before Pope's speech

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, making them blossom like this flower and fragrant like this tree. What plant and tree are mentioned?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Lebanon Cedar and Lilies Lotus and palm Iris and cypress Rose and olive