USA – Abortion ‘Stigma’ Prevalent in Many Affordable Care Act Plans

Abortion ‘Stigma’ Prevalent in Many Affordable Care Act Plans
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is creating unnecessary administrative burdens for those receiving abortion care through ACA plans.

Aug 15, 2019
Erin Heger

A new report from the National Health Law Program (NHeLP) found a lack of abortion coverage on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) state marketplaces, with plans in Delaware, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, West Virginia, and Wyoming failing to indicate whether they cover abortion beyond circumstances of rape, incest, or life endangerment.

Those plans include wording found in the discriminatory Hyde Amendment.

Continued: https://rewire.news/article/2019/08/15/abortion-stigma-prevalent-in-many-affordable-care-act-plans/


USA – States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

States Lead the Way in Promoting Coverage of Abortion in Medicaid and Private Insurance

Adam Sonfield, Guttmacher Institute
Elizabeth Nash, Guttmacher Institute
First published online: June 24, 2019

Advocates and policymakers working to ensure that everyone can afford an abortion scored a number of important victories within just a few days of each other: On June 13, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed a law expanding abortion coverage in private insurance and Medicaid. Just one day earlier, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker had signed a law expanding private insurance coverage of abortion as part of a broader abortion rights law. The same week, New York City allocated $250,000 to a nonprofit abortion fund to directly assist patients, including patients traveling from other states.

This burst of action builds on a nationwide push to overturn the Hyde Amendment, which currently bans abortion coverage under Medicaid and other federal health coverage programs. Expanding coverage will help people overcome one substantial barrier to abortion—the cost of abortion services—and will be particularly important for people with low incomes, people of color and people with disabilities.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/06/states-lead-way-promoting-coverage-abortion-medicaid-and-private-insurance


Restrictions on Private Insurance Coverage of Abortion: A Danger to Abortion Access and Better U.S. Health Coverage

Restrictions on Private Insurance Coverage of Abortion: A Danger to Abortion Access and Better U.S. Health Coverage

Adam Sonfield
Guttmacher Institute
First published online: June 6, 2018

HIGHLIGHTS

- Antiabortion conservatives have long sought to eliminate private insurance coverage of abortion, and their main tactic in Congress has been to push for barring health plans from covering abortion if any part of the plan is paid for with federal dollars.
- Abortion coverage is already severely restricted and difficult to obtain in many parts of the United States, and further federal restrictions will make things worse for patients who need abortion care.
- The obsession with banning abortion coverage threatens broader efforts to expand and improve U.S. health insurance coverage and to make it more affordable.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2018/06/restrictions-private-insurance-coverage-abortion-danger-abortion-access-and-better-us