Friday, October 4, 2013

Another Obamacare Exception for Congress: Taxpayers Could Pay for Abortion Coverage

baby-seven-billionAccording to the Obama Administration’s latest eleventh-hour purported rulemaking, Members of Congress and their staff will be able to enroll in taxpayer-subsidized health plans that include coverage of elective abortions.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a final rule this week that will allow Members of Congress and their staff to choose health care plans on Obamacare’s state health insurance exchanges while receiving generous federal premium support. It is clear that the OPM does not even have statutory authority to provide premium support for exchange plans. Further, the final rule disregards longstanding, bipartisan federal prohibitions on the use of taxpayer funds to pay for elective abortions.
For decades, Members of Congress and their staff have enrolled in health plans through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), receiving significant federal taxpayer contributions toward premium payments. In almost every year since 1983, Congress has attached an amendment, authored by Representative Chris Smith (R–NJ), to the Financial Services appropriations bill, which funds the FEHBP, prohibiting the expenditure of those federal dollars to pay for elective abortions or health plans that provide coverage of abortions.
Yet because the Obamacare exchanges are governed by a separate law, the OPM claims that FEHBP enrollees are allowed to choose plans that provide abortion services. In fact, Obamacare explicitly forbids Members of Congress and their staff from continuing to participate in the FEHBP, forcing them to instead enroll in health plans on state insurance exchanges with their own funds.

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