HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Congress in October that she “didn’t know” if Obamacare health care plans force Americans to pay for abortions, despite evidence that many plans will force enrollees to fund abortions.
Although Americans will definitely fund abortions under Obamacare, the top health care official didn’t know that was the case.
During that October 30 appearance before the Energy and Commerce Committee, Sebelius agreed to provide a list of Obamacare plans indicating whether abortion is covered. Specifically, Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) asked “Can you provide for the committee the list of insurers in the federal exchange who do not offer as part of their package abortion coverage?”
Sebelius replied saying “I can do that sir…We should be able to do it…I know that is the plan, I will get that information…”
“Sir I don’t know,” Sebelius added. “I know exactly the issue you’re talking about. I will check and make sure that is clearly identifiable.”
To date the Secretary has not provided the list discussed at the October 30 hearing.
Today, Sebelius appeared before the Health Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) questioned her on why she has not provided the list.
In an apparent backtracking from her October 30th commitment to provide a list, Sebelius told Rep. Shimkus that “every plan lists plan benefits and the one plan benefit that they must list by law is abortion services, so as a shopper goes on, I would highly recommend that they look in the plan benefits section…” When Rep. Shimkus pressed further pointing out that he had examples of summary of benefits documents that do not indicate whether or not abortion is covered, she replied “It is on the website…it is available…”
CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!
As pro-life organizations have pointed out, it is impossible to identify whether or not a plan includes abortion coverage. Specifically, numerous summary of benefits and coverage documents which can be viewed through www.healthcare.gov but the web site does not indicate whether or not abortion is covered. As an NPR story published last month and titled “Which Plans Cover Abortion? No Answers on HealthCare.gov,” concluded “But for now, at least in states where coverage is allowed, whether or not abortion is a plan benefit remains largely a mystery.”
