The GOP’s Obamacare Plan Targets Planned Parenthood — and Private Abortion Insurance Coverage
A leaked draft copy of House Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was published Friday by Politico. While the language isn’t final, it’s a sweeping plan that would dismantle many foundational parts of Obamacare, including Medicaid expansion and many of the taxes that currently fund the health care law.
And as promised by House Speaker Paul Ryan, the ACA repeal bill also defunds Planned Parenthood. It would strip the organization of hundreds of millions of dollars of Medicaid reimbursements, which make up the majority of the organization’s federal funding.
But the draft bill goes even further than that. It threatens to dismantle the entire private insurance market for abortion coverage, not just public funding.
The bill could effectively eliminate private insurance coverage of abortion
Under the new Republican plan, any insurance plans that cover abortion won’t be eligible for tax credits. The tax credits would help make insurance more affordable for some consumers. That means insurance coverage for abortion, specifically, will be more expensive.
To be clear, the proposed plan doesn’t ban abortion coverage directly. Nor does it prohibit anyone from buying abortion coverage, or a separate insurance “rider” for that coverage. It just doesn’t allow that coverage to be subsidized by the government.
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