From
Steven Bozza, Director
Office
for Life Family and Laity
The health care reform package
passed in 2010 was one of the most sweeping acts of Congress in recent history.
During the debate there were many hotly contested issues, but perhaps the most controversial
was whether or not elective abortions would be covered in the new taxpayer
supported health insurance exchanges to
be created under this new law.
Pennsylvania can and should prohibit taxpayer
supported health insurance plans from covering elective abortions.
The Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA) specifically permits states to prohibit insurance
providers that participate in the exchange from covering elective abortions.
Governor Corbett has indicated that Pennsylvania will not create its own
exchange. Therefore, to assure that elective abortion is not included in the federal
exchange to be implemented in Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth must affirmatively
opt out by passing a state law. Senate Bill 3/House Bill 818 will clearly
prohibit the taxpayer supported insurance plans from covering elective abortions.
It
does not eliminate coverage of
abortions in the cases of rape, incest or to avert the death of the mother.
Only elective abortions are excluded.SB 3/HB 818assures all Pennsylvanians
covered by an exchange health plan that they will not be forced to pay a
separate premium to cover elective abortion. Without SB 3/HB 818, every person enrolled
(man or woman) in a plan within the exchange would be required to make a payment
to fund elective abortion coverage for others.
Tax dollars will be spent to
subsidize the premiums paid to the insurance companies on the exchanges, making
them affordable to those who otherwise do not have insurance. Without the opt-out,
the government subsidized insurance plans could be used to cover elective
abortions.
Currently
no tax dollars are used for elective abortions anywhere in Pennsylvania.
Abortion coverage has long been
prohibited in Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program (except in cases of rape, incest
or to avert the death of the mother).
These bills would guarantee that the
taxpayer supported plans in the federal government’s new health insurance exchange
are in line with this long-standing policy.
Taxpayers
strongly oppose abortion coverage in the health insurance exchanges.
In the heat of the health care
reform debate, CNN found that six in 10 Americans favor a ban on the use of
federal funds for abortion (November 2009). Quinnipiac University found that
67% of Americans oppose allowing abortions to be paid for by public funds under
a health care reform bill (January 2010).
Pennsylvania has a long pro-life
tradition. If these polls were conducted here today, the numbers of taxpayers opposing
abortion coverage would be even higher.
About 20 states have already opted out
of abortion coverage in health insurance exchanges.
Without clear statutory
prohibitions, public dollars could be spent on a program which includes elective
abortion coverage. We cannot allow that to happen in Pennsylvania.
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