Graham-Cassidy Continues Efforts To Bar Private Insurance Coverage of Abortion

Across all of the major House and Senate Republican proposals in 2017 to repeal and replace major portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), one thing that has been consistent is their inclusion of language barring federal money from being used to support private insurance plans that covers abortion. The latest proposal, from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV) and Ron Johnson (R-WI), continues that trend. The Graham-Cassidy proposal has abortion coverage provisions in common with the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which passed the House in May, and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), which was rejected on the Senate floor in July. (See my post from March 21 for a description of the abortion coverage restrictions in AHCA and a fuller discussion of this topic, including the history behind these restrictions, current limitations on abortion coverage in private insurance and why abortion coverage restrictions matter.) Like its predecessors, Graham-Cassidy would phase out the ACA’s subsidies to help low- and middle-income individuals purchase health plans on their own, as well as ACA subsidies to help small employers purchase health plans for their employees. During the two years (2018 and 2019) that those subsidies would still exist, the legislation would bar them from going to any plan that includes coverage for abortion, beyond those rare cases when the woman’s life is endangered or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. U...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage abortion coverage Graham-Cassidy Source Type: blogs