Capps Amendment 'Reasonable Compromise,' L.A. Times Editorial Says

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 09 Sep 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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"Since the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, every federal health insurance program has become enmeshed in the debate over federal funding for abortion," a Los Angeles Times editorial says. It adds that current health reform efforts "have triggered a new tussle, with opponents of abortion claiming that the proposals would change the long-standing policy against using federal tax dollars to terminate pregnancies." However, an amendment to the House reform bill (HR 3200) offered by Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) would "actually have the opposite effect, forcing private insurers to go further to fund and account for abortion coverage separately from federally subsidized services."

The Hyde Amendment currently "bars federal Medicaid dollars from being used to pay for abortions except when the pregnancies result from rape or incest or threaten the mother's life," the editorial says, adding, "It also prohibits insurance plans for military personnel, federal employees and lower-income children from covering abortion." According to the Times, these rules "deter poor women from obtaining the constitutionally protected medical care available to women with means."

Capps has "proposed a variation of that approach for the health care reform bill, restricting how federal dollars are used but not private ones," the editorial says, adding that the amendment would prohibit the basic plans from being required to cover abortion services. It also would allow plans in the exchange to offer abortion coverage as they do now in the private market but only private funds could be used to pay for these services.

Antiabortion advocates consider the Capps amendment "an artfully worded ruse to enable the proposed 'public option' -- one of the plans available through the new exchange -- to cover abortion." However, the public plan would follow the same rules as the private plan in that "any abortion coverage offered by the public plan would have to be purchased with private funds" except in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment, the editorial says. It adds that the amendment "would require insurers to segregate the premiums for abortion coverage from other services, and would require the new exchanges to offer at least one plan that does not cover elective abortions at all -- a degree of choice that abortion opponents may not have today."

The editorial concludes that the "Capps amendment isn't a nefarious plan to promote abortions. It's a reasonable compromise" (Los Angeles Times, 9/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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