Thanks to some newly expanded exemptions to the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare), pro-life individuals who would otherwise be forced to accept an insurance plan from the marketplace that includes abortion coverage may now have another option. According to the Associated Press, “expanded hardship exemptions will go into effect immediately. People who object to abortion can get an exemption if all available health plans in their area cover the procedure.”
The AP continues:
Medicare and Medicaid administrator Seema Verma said the exemption for abortion objectors provides “pro-life Americans” with relief if they are living in an area where the only available ACA plan covers abortion. About half the states already forbid ACA plans from covering abortion, so it’s also uncertain how many consumers would qualify for the new exemption.
READ: Trump’s HHS announces plan to protect conscience rights of health care workers
Though Congress failed to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act last year, legislators succeeded in repealing certain portions of the law, such as the individual mandate to purchase insurance. This particular portion, while repealed in 2017, will not go into effect until 2019. The AP points out that “[i]n previous years about twice as many people have been able to get exemptions as paid the fines. The Trump administration’s action broadens the list of reasons for an exemption….” This is good news for many pro-life people, who have chosen to pay hundreds of dollars in fines every year rather than thousands of dollars in annual premiums for abortion-covering insurance plans with deductibles so high, the plans were practically useless.
It’s also good news for Americans who don’t want their money going toward abortion in any way, who are already subject to their tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood — the nation’s most profitable abortion corporation — to the tune of $500 million every year.
According to recent polling, a significant majority of Americans favor heavy restrictions on abortion, and they don’t want their tax dollars supporting it.
