March for Life

Obamacare

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March for Life Files Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 8, 2014

CONTACT: Ann Conant

March for Life Education and Defense Fund

202.234.3300

annconant@marchforlife.org

* * MEDIA ADVISORY * *

March for Life Files Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate

WASHINGTON – The March for Life Education and Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Obama administration’s HHS mandate through the legal firm, Alliance Defending Freedom. The March for Life is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization dedicated to protecting nascent human life from the moment of fertilization/conception, most notably through its annual march every January in the nation’s capital.  This lawsuit is the latest case by a non-profit organization to challenge the mandate since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against it last month on behalf of two for-profit family businesses in Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores.

The mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy financial penalties through the IRS.

March for Life President had this to say about the case: “The March for Life Education and Defense Fund was founded to protect nascent life in the womb. Our organization must be free to operate according to this belief. The government should not be allowed to force us to pay for insurance coverage that covers drugs and devices that can cause an abortion.”

For further information, please contact Ann Conant with March for Life at 202.234.3300.

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March for Life Stands Against HHS Mandate

“As a proud American, it breaks my heart to see the government force businesses and religious non-profits against their will to carry drugs and devices which can destroy rather than prevent life.” – Jeanne Monahan

On May 8th, March for Life President Jeanne Monahan stood with pro-life leaders to support Priests for Life as their case against the HHS contraceptive mandate was heard in federal court.  WATCH Jeanne Monahan’s comments below:

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Abortion Coverage Subsidies

Download this document as a PDF.

Are You Subsidizing Abortion Coverage?

For background information on abortion coverage in Obamacare state exchanges, click here.

ACTION PLAN

Exchange Research Guidelines

Below are the 28 states and localities that include abortion in the state exchanges (other states have voted to opt-out of such coverage):

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Consumers shopping for plans on the ACA exchanges want to know if their plan covers abortion. This is very hard to decipher. Many plans do not specify on the website whether their benefits package include abortion.

To find out for yourself you can visit Healthcare.gov to find the plans or link to the state-run exchange. Explore the summary of benefits coverage for each plan offered in the state. Use the search tool to scan for the words “abortion” and “termination,” and also scroll through to the section at the end of each benefit list to review the list of additional excluded and covered benefits.  Keep a record of whether abortion is a covered benefit, excluded or not mentioned at all. Ideally, print the relevant page of each plan for your records.

Once you have identified all the carriers operating on the exchange, and the status of the plans’ abortion coverage, calls should be made to the carrier companies. Ideally, a local resident should make the calls to inquire as to whether the plan includes abortion coverage.

A suggested script is below. The caller should take very careful notes of what the carrier says, and if possible, get the name of the person they are talking with.

General script:

Hi, I’m shopping for a healthcare plan and I was looking at your plan options on healthcare.gov. Can you tell me which of them include coverage for abortion? OR Can you tell me which of your plans don’t include abortion coverage?

Typically you will get a general answer – “its’ covered,” and you will want to try to dig a little more, “is it always covered, are there any exceptions?”

If they ask why you want to know, you should say whatever you are comfortable with. One suggestion is “I don’t want to be paying into the abortion pool.”

Try to write down whatever they tell you, as carefully as possible. Please try to get a name of who you speak with. Record your notes, including the time of the phone call.

 

When the project is complete please send a complete record back to us at March for Life at info@marchforlife.org identifying

1)      How many plans are offered in the state?

2)      Which and how many of those plans identify their abortion coverage policy online.

3)      How many plans actually cover abortion (based on what you learned by calling).

4)      What you learned from the carriers by making phone calls.

 

Here is an example of a summary of research for New Jersey:

Between January 22 and 23, 2014, we reviewed all the healthcare plans available for individuals shopping on the New Jersey Exchange. We examined the summary of benefits for each plan as made available on the internet. None of the 31 plans offered made any mention of abortion coverage, either as an excluded or covered benefit.

On January 23 we called the three insurance companies administering the plans: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Amerihealth and Health Republic Insurance of New Jersey and asked if abortion coverage was included. Blue Cross Blue Shield and Health Republic Insurance of NJ both said abortion was a covered benefit, so at the very least, 14 of the 31 plans cover elective abortion. The third carrier, Amerihealth, was a little squishier, saying abortion could be covered if it was pre-approved.

 

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Abortion Coverage in Obamacare

Download this document as a PDF. 

BACKGROUND:

Pursuant to Section 1334 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) the federal Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is required to ensure that there is at least one multi-state qualified health plan in each exchange that does not provide coverage for those abortions for which federal funding is prohibited as defined in the Hyde Amendment. Consequently, under the ACA, at least one of the “multi-state” plans approved by the Office of Personnel Management for possible availability on all the state exchanges should exclude elective abortions.  So the requirement is on the insurer who offers that health plan, not on the states.  And even the insurer is not required to cover all 50 states until FOUR YEARS after the plan’s approval. 

Insurance plans sold on the exchange will be eligible for federal subsidies even if the subsidized plan covers elective abortion – a radical departure from the policy governing all other federally subsidized health programs. This departure is accompanied by new accounting measures that will result in a mandatory abortion surcharge for many premium holders.  Despite the requirement by law there is little clarity on the subject of health insurance plans that do not cover abortion.  

 

ADMINISTRATION COVER-UP?

In an October 30, 2013 appearance before the Energy and Commerce Committee, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius agreed to provide a list of Obamacare plans indicating whether abortion is covered. Specifically, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) asked “Can you provide for the committee the list of insurers in the federal exchange who do not offer as part of their package abortion coverage?”  Sebelius replied saying “I can do that sir…We should be able to do it…I know that is the plan, I will get that information…”  

To date the Secretary has not provided the list discussed at the October 30 hearing. 

In December 2013 Secretary Sebelius appeared before the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) questioned her on why she has not provided the list.  In an apparent backtracking from her October 30th commitment to provide a list, Sebelius told Rep. Shimkus that “every plan lists plan benefits and the one plan benefit that they must list by law is abortion services, so as a shopper goes on, I would highly recommend that they look in the plan benefits section…”  When Rep. Shimkus pressed further pointing out that he had examples of summary of benefits documents that do not indicate whether or not abortion is covered, she replied “It is on the website…it is available…”

In March 2014, following up from the previous hearings Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD), a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, questioned Secretary Sebelius about two key aspects of abortion coverage in the ObamaCare Exchanges.  National Right to Life has a report of Rep. Harris’ remarks:

At [the] hearing, Harris pointed out to Sebelius that the Maryland Insurance Commissioner had said that Exchange plans don’t have to invoice separately for abortion coverage in plans that cover abortion. (Congressman Harris was referring to Bulletin 13-24 issued by the Maryland Insurance Commissioner to insurers over seven months ago on July 31, 2013). Sebelius tried to evade responsibility for what the Maryland Insurance Commissioner was doing, but under pointed questioning from Congressman Harris she conceded that she has supervisory authority over the Maryland exchange. (For more information on how the two separate payments statutory requirement is being ignored, see “Bait-and -Switch: The Obama Administration’s Flouting of Key Part of Nelson ‘Deal’ on ObamaCare” here.)

 

VIOLATION OF CURRENT LAW

103 of the 112 insurance plans that Members of Congress and congressional staff are being directed to (the Obamacare exchange offered in the District of Columbia -DC Health Link) INCLUDE ELECTIVE ABORTION coverage. Only nine plans offered exclude elective abortion.  (Click here to view flyer regarding the nine plans.)

Many congressional staff –knowingly and unknowingly—signed up for these abortion plans marking a distinct departure from the Smith Amendment, a longstanding law prohibiting abortion coverage in plans provided to federal employees.   This was uncovered in an article by Anna Higgins, Director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council.  Anna tried to identify which plans in the D.C. HealthLink excluded abortion.  Telephone representatives for the D.C. HealthLink erroneously informed Anna that all plans on the D.C. exchange include elective abortion.  When Anna published her article about her experience, she was quickly contacted by D.C. officials who apologized, gave the information, added a website FAQ, and informed her that D.C. HealthLink staff would be retrained on the subject so as to correctly answer questions in the future. The FAQ is a step in the right direction although abortion coverage is still not easily identifiable when browsing plans on the D.C. exchange.

The amendment offered by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) three decades ago to ban abortion funding in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Programs is still current law. Like the Hyde Amendment, the Smith Amendment prohibits the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) from funding or even engaging in administrative activities in connection with any plan that includes abortion. However, the Obama Administration is now violating the Smith amendment since OPM has begun to administer a system for Members of Congress and their staff to obtain taxpayer-subsidized insurance coverage that pays for the destruction of innocent unborn children.

 

WHAT IS THE CONCERN?

More taxpayer funds mean more abortions.  Experience with Medicaid indicates that unborn children are saved when abortion is not subsidized by the taxpayers. According to publications by the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute:

·         “In the absence of funding, a significant percentage of pregnancies that would have otherwise been aborted are instead ca
rried to term,”

·         “Approximately one-fourth of women who would have Medicaid-funded abortions instead give birth when this funding is unavailable.”

 

Legislation that addresses the problems of secrecy (short of full repeal):

Rep. Chris Smith’s “Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act” (H.R. 3279).

 

What can you do? Read more HERE.

 

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Teachable Moment from the Bumpies

The language used in a recent blog post by the First Lady Michelle Obama on “The Bump,” a pregnancy resource website for expecting moms reveals the hypocrisy of abortion proponents – they acknowledge that an unborn baby is just that – a developing human!  (Well, except for Cecile Richards who has no understanding of science and when life begins.)  Even more frustrating, the blog post on the very “pro-baby” website touts a system that funds the destruction of developing babies through abortion.*  

Some of the phrases that the First Lady uses in talking about her pregnancy experience:

“expecting our first daughter”

“panic at the prospect of bringing this little person into the world”

“our little girl”

“when your baby is born”

The First Lady’s comments are very sweet, and while we may disagree about her husband’s politics and policy, it seems that the First Lady is a wonderful mom.  Even a recent article from the conservative website, The Federalist, talks about “5 Ways Michelle Obama is a Great First Lady.”  The fact that she prioritizes family over her First Lady duties is commendable.

However, her aforementioned phrases – and so many other references to pregnancy in the popular culture – prove the point that technically, everyone is pro-life – when it comes to expected or wanted pregnancies.

Be on the look-out for these references – in the news, on TV, in the movies, in celebrity gossip.  They can offer a “teachable moment” to share the truth with a friend and graciously point out how it’s not only wrong, but it’s discriminatory to support abortion just because a pregnancy is “unexpected or unwanted.”  Those babies develop exactly the same as those whose parents desire children!

In fact, the Bump blog has some fantastic resources on fetal development.  Prospective moms can enter their due date and track the growth of their baby.  Another great resource that you can share with a friend who needs to be convinced of the humanity of unborn babies is the Endowment for Human Development – take a few minutes on this site to familiarize yourself with the amazing stages of human development in the womb.  One by one we can change the culture until every baby – whether expected or not – is welcomed into this world. 

*HHS Secretary Sebelius has repeatedly avoided providing a list of health care plans that do not provide abortion funding under the “Affordable Care Act,” or Obamacare, presumably because she cannot.