Posted by
Defend America on Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:28:53 PM
Sen. Reid’s Government-Run Health Plan STILL Requires a Monthly Abortion Fee
Posted by GOP Leader Press Office on December 19th, 2009
Fixed it is not. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) latest
health care “manager’s amendment” would STILL levy a new “abortion
premium” fee on Americans under the Democrats’ health care plan. Just
like the original 2,032-page, government-run health care plan from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) and the last version of Senator Reid’s 2,074-page bill,
this latest 383-page amendment levies an abortion premium and does not
fix the problem of government funds being used to subsidize elective
abortions.
Under Reid’s “manager’s amendment,” there is no prohibition on
abortion coverage in federally subsidized plans participating in the
Exchange. Instead the amendment includes layers of accounting gimmicks
that demand that plans participating in the Exchange or the new
government-run plan that will be managed by the Office of Personnel
Management must establish “allocation accounts” when elective abortion
is a covered benefit (p. 41). Everyone enrolled in these plans
must pay a monthly abortion premium (p. 41, lines 5-8), and these funds
will be used to pay for the elective abortion services. The Reid
amendment directs insurance companies to assess the cost of elective
abortion coverage (p. 43), and charge a minimum of $1 per enrollee per
month (p. 43, lines 20-22).
In short, the Reid bill continues to defy the will of the American people
and contradict longstanding federal policy by providing federal
subsidies to private health plans that cover elective abortions. The
new language does include a “state opt-out” provision if a state passes
a law to prohibit insurance coverage of abortion, but it’s a sham
because it does nothing to prevent one state’s tax dollars from paying
for elective abortions in other states.
http://republicanleader.house.gov/blog/?p=725