According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), 1,036 insurance plans under ObamaCare fund elective abortions through taxpayer funds. This, despite President Obama’s promises (and executive order) to the contrary, and despite the Hyde Amendment itself.
Now, taxpayers can check the released list of the 1,036 plans to see if their insurance plan is forcing them to cover others’ elective abortions. The Susan B. Anthony List’s Lozier Institute provides information on finding the plans here.
“…28 states (including the District of Columbia) [have] no such laws [restricting abortion coverage in insurance plans], in 5 states all QHPs cover non-excepted abortion services; in 15 states some QHPs cover non-excepted abortion services; and in 8 states no QHPs cover non-excepted abortion services. Nationally, 1,036 QHPs in these 28 states cover non-excepted abortion services and 1,062 QHPs do not.”
An interactive map, provided by the GAO that can be found here.
Despite former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ promise that ObamaCare would be transparent with its abortion funding provisions, the average taxpayer has had no idea how to find out whether or not her plan paid for others’ abortions. The GAO report found:
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11 of the 18 plan issuers interviewed as a sample did not provide abortion information to consumers before they enrolled.
- None of the 18 plan issuers interviewed billed the abortion surcharge separately per the law or itemized the fee clearly as abortion.
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One plan issuer was not aware at all of the requirement to file an abortion segregation plan with its state department detailing its abortion accounting methods.
With the released list of 1,036 plans, taxpayers can at least find out what’s going on. But while this revelation is helpful, it’s information that should have been available in the first place. Additionally, it does nothing to help the plight of families or single persons who need the insurance plan they are on and yet cannot morally participate in abortion.
It is both wrong and discriminatory to force people to pay for others’ abortions – with or without their knowledge. The health of Americans’ ought not to be held hostage by “abortion rights.” I should not have to pay for someone’s abortion so that I can purchase my child’s breathing medication. My friend should not be forced to pay for someone’s abortion so that she can afford pregnancy care for herself.
Barth and Abbie Bracy have brought a lawsuit, through the attorneys of Alliance Defending Freedom, to stop this injustice that is being forced on American taxpayers. The Bracys live in Connecticut, one of the states in which there is no insurance option through ObamaCare other than one that pays for abortion.
Their complaint presents the issue:
Our Constitution, laws and history forbid the government to penalize a person for his religious convictions. Yet, the Defendants interpret, apply, and enforce the Affordable Care Act to impose substantial penalties on Barth and Abbie Bracy and deny them benefits to which they are entitled because of their sincere religious objection to paying a special surcharge to be used specifically and exclusively to pay for others’ elective abortions.
…the government has required the Bracys to purchase a certain type of government-approved health insurance or pay burdensome fines for their refusal. … However, in order to…avoid the draconian penalties Defendants would impose, the Bracys must also pay a separate fee to be used solely to pay for elective abortions for others.
You can read the rest of the Bracys’ complaint here, and don’t forget to check out the list to find out if you’re being forced to pay for abortion through your ObamaCare-mandated insurance plan.
