Boston Cardinal Seán O’Malley has urged members of Congress to
support the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act, a measure that would
require health plans to disclose if they subsidise abortion coverage.
Cardinal O’Malley, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities
for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the legislation would
address one part of the abortion-related problem in the Affordable Care
Act.
In a letter, the cardinal pointed out that under the federal health
care law – unless state law requires otherwise – each insurer may choose
whether to include coverage of elective abortions in health plans it
offers on a state health exchange.
He noted that if the insurer does cover such abortions, the overall
health plan may still receive federal tax subsidies, which he said
violates the policies governing all other federal health programmes.
“In no other programme may federal funds subsidise any part of a
health plan that covers such abortions; and nowhere else does the
federal government forbid insurers to allow an ‘opt-out’ from such
coverage on conscience grounds,” he wrote.
The cardinal added that the health care law also has “unique secrecy
provisions” protecting the insurer from having to answer if the plan
covers abortions – except when it lists all services at the time the
consumer is already enrolling in the plan. The insurer also does not
have to reveal how much of the person’s premium goes into a separate
abortion fund.
“In other words, not only may pro-life people have a very limited
choice of health plans that do not violate their consciences – but the
law makes it all but impossible for them to find out which plans they
are,” Cardinal O’Malley said.
He also cited a 2009 poll that showed most Americans, particularly
most women, do not want abortion coverage in their health plans.
The cardinal said the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act simply
addresses the “unprecedented policy of government-enforced secrecy” by
requiring health plans to report their abortion coverage and the extra
payment they charge for abortion coverage.
He said such disclosure will enable Americans to “make an informed
choice of a health plan for themselves and their families that does not
violate their moral and religious convictions”.
“This should be a point of agreement between lawmakers who consider
themselves both ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice,’” he added. “Any claim of
‘choice’ is empty if the law conceals the facts needed to make that
choice.”