The coverage and payment of abortion in health plans under the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare") was a point of contention that nearly kept the ACA from becoming law. However, after believing assurances by the Obama Administration that the law would not involve taxpayer funding for abortion, several key pro-life Democrat Congressmen provided the final votes needed to enact Obamacare.
Now, it has become indisputable that Obamacare is implicating all taxpayers, and many Americans who must buy health insurance through a state exchange, in the grisly practice of abortion. Richard Doerflinger, from the U.S. Bishops’ Pro Life Office, explained this implication in a September 2013 Life Issues Forum article.
"First, the health plans that cover abortion on demand will receive federal tax subsidies when the enrollee meets income requirements. So, in violation of the policy in every other federal health program, your tax dollars will subsidize plans that cover abortion.
"Second, if you find yourself in one of these abortion-including plans, you will be required to pay a surcharge for other people’s abortions. The charge will start at a minimum of $1 a month and increase as needed. Congress made this charge ‘separate’ so it can claim that no taxpayer funds are going to abortions themselves. Yet insurers are forbidden by law to allow anyone to opt out of the payment.
"Third, the ACA forbids the insurer to give you any special warning that your plan covers abortions. The abortion coverage can only appear in the fine print along with all other ‘services.’
"Fourth, the ACA forbids the insurer to tell you how much you are paying for abortions. It must charge you for the full amount of your coverage (abortion plus everything else), then divide the funds into separate accounts later. This is designed to prevent you from refusing to write the separate check for abortions."
"In short," Doerflinger states, "there will be tax subsidies for health plans that cover abortion, and many Americans will be forced by law to pay premiums for abortion itself. Despite claims that there won’t be "taxpayer funding of abortion," the ACA expands federal support for abortion, and restricts the freedom of those who object to paying for it."
The good news is that the ACA gives states the authority to prohibit the coverage of abortion in all plans on the healthcare "exchange" (see: 42 U.S.C. 18023(a) and (c)). And Nebraska is one of 23 states that enacted such a law.
In 2011, the Nebraska Legislature enacted LB 22 which prohibits abortion coverage (except to "prevent the death of the woman") in any healthcare exchange plans established by the ACA. And LB 22 went one step further by also prohibiting abortion coverage in private healthcare plans "except through an optional rider to the policy for which an additional premium is paid solely by the insured."
Hence, Nebraskan’s who choose (or are forced) to purchase a health plan from the federal exchange should know that their plans will not cover deliberately induced abortions performed after implantation. Unfortunately, there is no "opt out" for the so-called "HHS mandate" that requires most plans to cover sterilizations and contraceptive drugs and devices, including those that can cause early abortions.
This mandate, which applies to all but a very narrow category of religious employers, is being challenged—with much preliminary success—in 75 different lawsuits representing more than 200 plaintiffs. See www.becketfund.org/hhsinformationcentral/ for updates on these lawsuits.
Hopefully, the unjust and insidious HHS mandate will soon be thrown out as unconstitutional by the Courts, and then thrown into the garbage bin where it belongs.
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