{"id":56654,"date":"2015-01-02T09:42:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T14:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=56654"},"modified":"2016-09-08T14:36:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T18:36:18","slug":"letter-smacks-down-the-obama-administration-for-abortion-lies-in-the-aca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-smacks-down-the-obama-administration-for-abortion-lies-in-the-aca\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter smacks down the Obama Administration for abortion lies in the ACA"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a>, the Charlotte Lozier Institute<\/a>, and the Family Research Council<\/a> submitted an open letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM)<\/a> voicing the concerns shared by American taxpayers regarding illegal abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n

The letter takes issue with the Obama administration’s obfuscation of this coverage, as well as its unwillingness to move forward in an open and transparent manner to resolve the issue. The writers recall:<\/p>\n

Practical experience has demonstrated that it is virtually impossible for even diligent\u00a0researchers reviewing insurance coverage options on an ACA exchange to discover whether the
\nplans include abortion coverage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

As the letter notes, proposed rules<\/a> submitted by OPM have further failed to make headway in remedying the situation.<\/p>\n

The letter points out that the demand for transparency is motivated not only\u00a0by pro-life concerns, but also by opposition to the secrecy that has dominated the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA):<\/p>\n

Whether one supports or opposes abortion or\u00a0insurance coverage for abortion, our nation has historically and legislatively affirmed the right\u00a0not to participate in or facilitate abortions in violation of one\u2019s conscience.\u00a0This principle is now
\nin serious jeopardy. We have heard from many Americans who have been shocked to learn that\u00a0the healthcare plan they have enrolled in not only includes elective abortions, but requires them\u00a0to pay an additional fee \u2013 undisclosed to them \u2013 that can only be used to pay for others\u2019 elective\u00a0abortions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the OPM’s proposed rules address the issue of transparency in regard to\u00a0what\u00a0<\/em>enrollees are paying for when they sign up for health coverage, the agencies have not adequately adjusted the rules to make this a reality in practice:<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0your agencies have issued and enforced rules instructing insurers to collect only a single\u00a0payment. As directed by your agencies, insurers covering elective abortions \u201cmust provide a\u00a0notice to enrollees, only as part of the summary of benefits and coverage explanation, at the time\u00a0of enrollment, of such coverage.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The letter points out the lose-lose situation currently characterizing the ACA, calling the government’s continued refusal to comply with the law a “regime of secrecy”:<\/p>\n

This regime of secrecy \u2013 especially in those states where there is no choice of a plan\u00a0without elective abortion coverage \u2013 is particularly offensive because participation is enforced by\u00a0the ACA\u2019s individual mandate. Individuals and families are subject to substantial penalties if\u00a0they fail to obtain insurance coverage mandated under the ACA… Due to ACA\u00a0requirements for all insurance plans, the only plans many Americans can afford are those offered\u00a0on ACA exchanges because of the tax subsidies they can receive there. Having forced consumers\u00a0out of their chosen plans and into the exchanges, the Administration your agencies serve has a\u00a0duty to at least ensure that enrollees have a free choice of plans on the exchanges and are fully\u00a0informed about the plans they are purchasing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the meantime, Americans can find out whether their health plans include abortion coverage by visiting this website<\/a>, created by the concerned organizations that drafted the letter. And it’s no surprise that, even for these professional organizations, obtaining the abortion coverage information needed to create the website was a “Herculean” task:<\/p>\n

What [we] have discovered is that even for trained professionals who know exactly what information they are trying to find, it is a Herculean, and\u00a0sometimes fruitless, task. In many states, plan documents with abortion coverage information\u00a0were not available online. Customer service personnel for the exchanges and the insurance\u00a0companies were routinely unable to answer whether a given plan included abortion coverage and\u00a0frequently gave answers that later proved to be incorrect. In many cases these same personnel\u00a0neglected or failed to return promised telephone calls, all while deadlines for the purchase of\u00a0insurance were approaching and passing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The need for transparency here is self-evident. Americans should not need the time and resources of multiple non-profit organizations dedicated\u00a0to finding out, on their behalf, what they are paying for when they submit their monthly insurance premiums. Continue to monitor Live Action News and\u00a0Alliance Defending Freedom<\/a> for updates as they become available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alliance Defending Freedom, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and the Family Research Council submitted an open letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) voicing the concerns shared by American taxpayers regarding illegal abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act. The letter takes issue with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":152,"featured_media":56460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nLetter smacks down the Obama Administration for abortion lies in the ACA - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/letter-smacks-down-the-obama-administration-for-abortion-lies-in-the-aca\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter smacks down the Obama Administration for abortion lies in the ACA - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Alliance Defending Freedom, the Charlotte Lozier Institute, and the Family Research Council submitted an open letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) voicing the concerns shared by American taxpayers regarding illegal abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act. 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