Starting in June of 2020, every American who purchased health insurance through former President Barack Hussein Obama’s Affordable Care Act exchange will begin receiving two monthly healthcare bills, one of which will be for abortion coverage.
“Under a new rule finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in December, insurers are now required to issue a separate invoice for the amount of your premium that they attribute to abortion services,” The Washington Post confirmed Friday.
Here’s the fundamental catch that may not be evident from the Post’s report: Many Americans who’ve been purchasing healthcare insurance through Obamacare, including young and old men alike, have already been paying for abortion coverage since day one.
But because the bill for abortion services was just being added onto the overall bill for healthcare services, not everyone knew this. Thanks to the new policy implemented by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, who was appointed to his post by President Donald Trump in late 2017, every American soon will.
“This rule will ensure that taxpayers do not contribute funds to pay for coverage of abortion services for which funding isn’t allowed by law, and will alert consumers that their health plan covers abortion services, allowing them to make fully informed decisions about their coverage,” HHS said in a statement Friday.
While it appears the latter point — alerting consumers to the fact that they’re paying for abortion services — is the greater achievement, Azar and other top officials have focused on the former point.
“[W]hen an exchange plan covers abortions for which public funding is prohibited by federal law, this rule requires that customers receive separate bills for that abortion coverage and for the rest of their insurance,” he said in his own statement.
“Providing these separate bills is an essential step in implementing the Affordable Care Act’s bar on tax credits going toward coverage of abortions for which public funding is prohibited. The separate billing requirement fulfills Congress’ intent and reflects President Trump’s strong commitment to preventing taxpayer funding of abortion coverage.”
David Adams