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Insurers providing policies on Obamacare exchanges that cover abortions will need to issue separate bills for this coverage in an effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to further separate abortion from government funds, the agency said on Friday.
“This rule will ensure that taxpayers do not contribute funds to pay for coverage for abortion services for which funding is not permitted by law, and will alert consumers that their health plan covers abortion services,” allowing them to make informed decisions about their coverage. “The agency of the Department of Health and Social Services said in a statement on Friday.
The move highlights the Trump administration’s longstanding pressure on access to abortion through federal programs.
Due to the Hyde Amendment, which dates back to 1976, federal funds are already prohibited from being used for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or to save a woman’s life. Under existing Affordable Care Act regulations, participating insurers can cover abortions, but registrants’ payments for these services cannot be covered by federal funds and must be held in “a separate account that is consists only of these payments ”.
The agency said on Friday that the rule “aligns better with Congress’ intention of (participating insurers) to collect two separate payments, one for coverage of (relevant) abortion services and one for coverage of all. other services covered “.
The new requirement will take effect on June 27, according to the agency, which estimated that insurers in 18 states currently offer coverage for abortion services.
Abortion rights advocates and health insurance leaders have criticized the measure as a partisan threat to access both abortion and health care coverage.
Jacqueline Ayers, vice president of government relations and public policy at Planned Parenthood, criticized the administration as “attempting to make abortion legal and safe even more difficult to access.”
“This rule will not only require separate payments, it further separates abortion from other reproductive health care and places massive barriers to access,” she said in a statement, adding that the group “vehemently opposes this rule and will continue our work to stop the administration’s attacks on our health and rights.
The organization, which has challenged other HHS rules aimed at limiting abortion in court, declined to say whether it would pursue legal action against the new rule.
Margaret Murray, CEO of the Association for Community Affiliated Plans, a trade association for 60 Medicaid-focused healthcare plans, called the rule a bureaucratic hurdle that could compromise consistent coverage.
“Requiring people to pay two bills for one product – health coverage – is not a solution to finding a problem,” she said, adding that “not paying two bills each month will take consumers on the way to full termination of coverage. . ”
Anti-abortion activists have applauded the move as a commitment to implement Obamacare as planned.
“This new rule will ensure compliance so that ‘separated’ no longer means ‘together’ when it comes to funding abortion,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, chair of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List. “President Trump has won an important victory for American consumers and taxpayers. ”
Katie Glenn, government affairs advisor at Americans United for Life, applauded the rule as enforcing the existing Affordable Care Act abortion funding regulation “nearly a decade after its enactment.”
“Congress and President Obama intended that there would be no taxpayer funding for abortion through insurance scholarships, and this rule meets that intention,” she said. added.
The department’s rules to regulate or restrict access to abortion have faced legal challenges, with mixed results.
Last month, a federal judge overturned the department’s so-called rule of conscience, which allows healthcare workers who raise moral or religious objections to refuse to provide certain medical procedures, such as abortion, sterilization and assisted suicide.
But the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals ruled in August that departmental regulations prohibiting taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring patients for abortions could come into effect despite an ongoing legal challenge against them. .
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