WASHINGTON — Republican Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey has divulged that abortion coverage is included in nearly all the health insurance plans available to Congress and their staffers–with the exception of 9 out of 112.
Lawmakers have until December 9th to sign up for an insurance plan, but Smith says that Obama is breaking his promise of using taxpayer funds for abortion.
“In the run-up to passage of Obamacare, Americans were repeatedly told and reassured by President Obama himself, including in a speech to a joint session of Congress in October 2009, that ‘under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortion,’” he explained in a news release this week. “Obama even issued the infamous executive order that claimed, ‘the Act maintains current Hyde Amendment restrictions governing abortion policy and extends those restrictions to newly created health insurance exchanges.’”
“Once again we see those promises ring hollow—what the President said simply isn’t true today,” he continued. “In the most recent example, 103 of the 112 insurance plans that Members of Congress and congressional staff are being directed to include elective abortion coverage. Only nine plans offered exclude elective abortion.”
While there are still plans available that exclude abortion coverage, Smith fears that many Congressmen and their staff will unknowingly sign up for plans that include the coverage. Reports state that often it can be confusing to understand which plan offers what coverage, and sometimes the insurance companies can make mistakes.
“Only in response to public pressure did D.C. Health Link release a FAQ explaining how to decipher which plans exclude elective abortion coverage” Smith said. “To date, Secretary Sebelius has failed to provide any information about abortion coverage in plans sold in dozens of states on the Federally Facilitated Marketplace– even after promising to do so over a month ago.”
Therefore, he says that he has introduced a bill that would require insurance companies to clearly note whether or not plans include abortion coverage.
“This failure to disclose is a problem indicative of Obamacare plans nationwide and is why I have introduced the ‘Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act’ (H.R. 3279), a bill that requires information regarding either inclusion or exclusion of abortion coverage as well as the existence of an abortion surcharge to be ‘prominently displayed,’” Smith outlined. “To rid Obamacare of its massive expansion of abortion-on-demand facilitation and funding, I have also introduced the No Taxpayers Funding for Abortion Act, (H.R. 7).”
He said that as is, Obamacare is violating the Smith Act, passed three years ago to ensure that abortion would not be included in the health care plans of federal employees.
“Once again it is clear that Obamacare’s abortion mandate violates federal law and makes taxpayers complicit in the culture of death,” Smith stated. “This is not reform.”
Under Obamacare, every state must have at least one plan that excludes abortion. However, it also allows Christians to become members of health sharing ministries as an exemption to the requirement to purchase insurance. Medi-Share, Samaritan Ministries and Christian Healthcare Ministries are the three companies that Christians may join as alternatives under the law.
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