UPDATE: Health Care Reform

As all of us are aware, the United States Congress has been debating the issue of reforming America’s health care system over the last few months. There is no question about it; there is much reform needed within the health care system. The first major hurdle for the debate came on November 7, 2009 when the Affordable Health Care for America Act was voted upon by the U.S. House of Representatives. However, before the vote was carried out an amendment was proposed by Representatives Bart Stupak (D-MI), Joseph Pitts (R-PA), Brad Ellsworth (D-IN), Marcy Kaptur (DOH), Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Dan Lipinski (D-IL) that would ban the use of federal funds in abortions.

There has been some misunderstanding about what the Stupak Amendment actually does for the health care bill. To help Catholics understand the amendment more thoroughly, the USCCB put out the following statement:

What does the Stupak Amendment do?

1.   It applies to this legislation the longstanding policy of the Hyde Amendment, which has governed other federal health programs for over three decades: No funds authorized or appropriated under this Act (including the “affordability credits” used to help individuals purchase health coverage) may be used for elective abortions, or for benefits packages that include such abortions.

2.   This does not apply to abortions in cases of danger to the mother’s life or rape/incest.

3.   The amendment clearly states that it does not prevent the following:

a.   Any individual whose private coverage is not federally subsidized may purchase (or continue to be covered by) a plan that includes elective abortions, paid for with that individual’s premium dollars. This includes individuals who receive health insurance through their employers, and those who may want to purchase it individually on the new Exchange (where health plans will compete to sell insurance to those who lack employer based coverage).

b.   A private insurer participating in the Exchange may sell a health plan that includes elective abortions to non-subsidized individuals on the Exchange, but then must also offer the same plan without elective abortions (selling only the latter version to federally subsidized purchasers).

c.   Any individual, even someone whose overall health plan was purchased with the help of affordability credits, may use private funds to purchase a supplemental policy covering abortions; any private insurer may sell such a policy.

4.    All contrary provisions in the bill are deleted – provisions allowing the HHS Secretary to include elective abortions in the government-run “public plan”; allowing federal subsidies to support plans that include such abortions; forbidding health plans to “discriminate” between abortion facilities and other health facilities; etc.

For the entire explanation of the Stupak Amendment, please visit: http://www.usccb.org/healthcare/StupakAmendmentFactsheet.pdf

Upon the passage of the House version of the bill, the Senate took up negotiations and debate on its version of the Health Care Reform Bill. However, the Senate bill does not contain the Stupak Amendment. Many pro-life Republican and Democratic Senators are standing by their Christian principles and threatening to vote against a bill that does not contain an special amendment removing federal funding of abortions. (It is about time Senators start standing up for what they believe!!) These pro-life Senators, including Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Casey (D-PA), have proposed an amendment to the Senate bill that would echo the Stupak Amendment in the House bill.

What does the Nelson/Hatch/Casey amendment do?

1.   It applies the longstanding policy of the Hyde amendment to this program: No funds authorized or appropriated under this Act (including the tax credits used to help individuals purchase health coverage) may be used for abortions, or for benefits packages that include abortion.

2.   This does not apply to abortions in cases of danger to the mother’s life or rape/incest.

3.   The amendment clearly states that it does not prevent the following:

a.   Any individual (including someone whose overall health plan was purchased with the help of federal tax credits) may use his or her own private funds to purchase a supplemental policy covering abortions; any private insurer may sell such a policy.

b.   Any individual whose private coverage is not federally subsidized may purchase (or continue to be covered by) a plan that includes elective abortions, paid for with that individual’s premium dollars. This includes individuals who receive health insurance through their employers, as well as those who may want to purchase it individually on the new Exchange where health plans will compete to sell insurance to those who lack employer-based coverage.

c.   A private insurer participating in the Exchange may even sell a health plan that includes elective abortions to non-subsidized individuals on the Exchange, but then must also offer the same plan without elective abortions (selling only the latter version to federally subsidized purchasers).

4.   All contrary provisions in the bill (allowing the HHS Secretary to include elective abortions in the government-run “community health insurance option,” allowing federal subsidies to support plans that include such abortions, etc.) are made consistent with this policy.

5.   A provision forbidding health plans to “discriminate” against health facilities that are willing to perform and provide abortions is deleted. If the public plan, and private plans receiving federal subsidies, will not provide abortions, there is no reason for the government to make them include abortion facilities in their network.

Personally, I usually do not get too involved with the political arena when writing  here on my blog. However, this case is a bit different because it is considering using the typical American’s hard-earned money to fund abortions. The culture of death that is present throughout our country and throughout the world needs to take a hit today! It is time for the people who represent us in Washington to start listening to their constituents. Americans do not want to pay for abortions!!! Please write your Senators and plead with them to vote for the Nelson/Hatch/Casey Amendment.