The President and his supporters promised Obamacare would not allow taxpayer funds to be used to pay for abortions.
Washington you have a problem: it will. In fact, the American Center for Law & Justice has said it represents “the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.”
Obamacare requires that every citizen purchase health insurance; that states, or the federal government set up healthcare exchanges ; and mandates a significant increase in Medicaid.
(Note: Georgia and several other states have exercised an option in the law that allows it to opt out of setting up a state health exchange. As a result, the exchange will be run by the federal government).
Because of the law’s requirements, coupled with fuzzy accounting practices, the result is expected to be that hundreds of millions of dollars will be funneled to the abortion industry.
During the debate on Obamacare, there was an unsuccessful attempt to amend the bill to ensure tax money would not be used for abortions. It failed.
After it passed, President Obama attempted to quell concern about the abortion issue by signing an executive order proclaiming that abortion coverage would not be included.
However, many constitutional scholars believe the order is not legal and will be easily overturned in court.
As a result, the only way to ban public funds from paying for abortions is for a state to pass specific legislation preventing the practice.
To date, Georgia has failed to join several other states in passing such a law.
The currently worded healthcare law (assuming the President’s executive order is overturned) is scheduled to take effect next year and calls for the following:
- Permits federally-subsidized Qualified Healthcare Plans (QHPs) to provide abortion services through the exchanges.
- Allows all multi-state qualified health plans to provide coverage for abortion.
- Requires healthcare providers to cover “preventive services,” which is so broadly worded they could include coverage for abortions and abortion-related drugs.
- Opens the door for Planned Parenthood to receive federal tax dollars to establish “referral” clinics in middle and high schools. The referrals could be for abortion services.
- Provides tax credits and incentives to businesses, insurance companies and individuals without effectively limiting them from being applied to abortion related services.
With such tax credits, individuals can not only deduct what they pay for an abortion, they may be able to receive a tax credit to buy an insurance policy that covers abortions.
A major point of potential confusion will occur when individuals select a plan at an exchange.
The law requires the exchanges to offer at least one plan that does not include abortion coverage.
However, it may be difficult for those who use a plan that does provide abortion services to understand exactly what they are paying for.
Anyone who joins such a plan will be required to pay an abortion “surcharge” of at least $1 per month.
The problem is that insurance companies are only required to disclose the surcharge at the time of enrollment, and that fact may well be hidden in the fine print.
In addition, the law specifically prohibits companies from itemizing individual charges on monthly statements, which means many participants will not be aware they are contributing to abortion coverage.
The rules require participating insurance companies in the exchanges to separate premium costs into two separate pools: one for abortion and the other for all other services.
The result will be the creation of a huge pool of funds specifically targeted for abortion services.
At the writing of this article there is an attempt to use the current budget debate to defund Obamacare. Many observers feel the effort will fail.
While the current picture looks bleak for pro-life supporters, the best option appears to be the 2014 Congressional election and the 2016 Presidential and the 2016 Presidential and Congressional election.
If we can elect a pro-life President and win control of the U.S. Senate, there is a chance of dismantling this government-sponsored slaughter.
We need pro-life candidates to run for office and then support them with our vote.
Sources: aclj.org; pop.org; heritage.org; huffingtonpost.com.