BILL: Should Abortions be Covered by Insurance? - EACH Act of 2023 - H.R.561
Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill
The Bill
H.R.561 - EACH Act of 2023
Bill Details
- Sponsored by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Jan. 26, 2023
- Committees: House - Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means; Natural Resources; Armed Services; Veterans' Affairs; Judiciary; Oversight and Accountability; Foreign Affairs
- House: Not yet voted
- Senate: Not yet voted
- President: Not yet signed
Bill Overview
- Requires federal health care programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to provide coverage for abortion services and requires federal facilities to provide access to those services.
- Repeals the Hyde Amendment, which restricts Medicaid coverage for abortion. Currently, coverage for abortion services under federal programs is generally only available in the case of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
- Repeals a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that permits states to prohibit coverage of abortion services in plans offered through a health insurance exchange.
- The bill is not subject to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from the application of a law.
What's in the Bill?
Promotes reproductive justice by ending the Hyde Amendment
- Ends the Hyde Amendment, enacted in 1976, lifting restrictions on abortion coverage for those who depend on Medicaid and other government-sponsored plans.
- Fifty-five percent of reproductive-age women enrolled in Medicaid live in states that withhold insurance coverage for abortion services.
Broadens abortion access
- Guarantees abortion coverage—regardless of how a patient gets their health insurance
- Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia do not cover abortion within their state Medicaid programs, except for limited exceptions.
- When policymakers place restrictions on Medicaid coverage of abortion, it forces one in four low-income women seeking an abortion to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. Denial of coverage for an abortion can push women deeper into poverty.
Prohibits political interference in decisions by private health insurance companies to offer coverage for abortion care
- The bill would prevent the federal government from interfering with private insurance companies and their decision to offer coverage for abortion care.
- This includes the insurance marketplaces established by the Affordable Care Act.
- Legislators in 26 states have enacted restrictions that interfere with abortion as a covered health service in plans offered by health insurance exchanges.
What Supporters are Saying
“Our bodily autonomy is under attack nationwide and the racist and discriminatory Hyde Amendment is yet another barrier preventing millions from accessing safe and legal abortion care – particularly our Black, brown, low-income, and other marginalized communities. With Republicans’ ongoing assault on reproductive justice, we must use every tool available to affirm abortion care as the fundamental human right that it is."
“Let’s be clear: the Hyde Amendment is blatantly racist and classist, and keeping it in place is yet another attempt by extremist, out-of-touch Republicans to strip people of this country of their reproductive freedom. For over 40 years, Hyde has forced poor women who are denied insurance coverage for abortions to carry pregnancies to term or pay for care when they’re already struggling to make ends meet. With extreme abortion laws in place in half the country, it is more critical than ever that we fight to make abortion accessible wherever possible. It is past time for our policies to ensure everyone can get the health care they need without shame, punishment, or financial ruin."
What Opponents are Saying
- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said:
"To offer women a government-funded abortion, but not the resources she needs to provide for her baby, is not “choice” but coercion."
"The Hyde Amendment is longstanding, broadly supported, life-saving policy."
Tell your reps to support or oppose this bill
—Emma Kansiz
(Photo Credit: Canva)
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Senators: It is Long Past Time to Clip Senator Tuberville's Deluded Wings!
It is clear that he is not just a Christo-Fascist but also putting an oversized ego over his Oath of Office:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Tuberville is aiding America's enemies, particularly China, Iran, North Korea, and, obviously, Russia. Further, he deprives Women in the Military of their Rights to Privacy, Bodily Autonomy, and Proper Health Care.
How Sen. Tuberville is holding up military promotions over abortion policy: NPR
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/15/1187530846/tuberville-senate-rules-abortion-military
How Tuberville's blockade of Pentagon nominees could end - POLITICO
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/22/tuberville-pentagon-nominees-blockade-00098130
Hundreds of military promotions are on hold as a Republican senator demands an end to abortion policy
7 Sep 2023
https://apnews.com/article/e38d853526de044ac59338d32d7a0e10
<Quote>
WASHINGTON (AP) — Top defense officials are accusing Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville of jeopardizing America’s national security with his hold on roughly 300 military promotions, raising the stakes in a clash over abortion policy that shows no signs of easing.
Tuberville brushed off the criticism, vowing he would not give in. “We’re going to be in a holding pattern for a long time,” he said if the Pentagon refuses to end its policy of paying for travel when a servicemember goes out of state to get an abortion or other reproductive care.
It’s a classic Washington standoff with rippling effects across the country, placing servicemembers' lives effectively on hold as they await what has traditionally been routine Senate approval for their promotions.
Frustration mounting, the secretaries of the Navy, Air Force, and Army wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post this week saying Tuberville’s efforts were not only unfair to the military leaders and their families but also “putting our national security at risk.”
<End Quote>
More.
If my taxes can pay for viagra they can certainly pay for abortions.
I don't see why it shouldn't be covered. If ins. will cover other reproductive procedures and medications, then it should cover abortions.
Health insurance should cover all medical care.
That includes therapeutic abortions.
This is actually a really confusing headline and lede. One says "Medicare" and the other says "Insurance."
Make up your mind, Causes.
I do support insurance's covering women's healthcare of all kinds, no matter the reason.
But since in our country we still can't make insurance cover life-saving medications, mental healthcare, and addiction recovery, this seems like a tough battle.
I wish our "great" country could do a lot more to make sure all Americans can afford ALL the healthcare they need.
I can't answer this without more clarification!
I support women's healthcare, and I believe all healthcare should be equitable, affordable, and high-quality.
However, I don't see Medicare as the source of this reproduction-related healthcare. Medicare is only for seniors or the very ill.
I do support repealing the Hyde Amendment, and for programs such as the VA and Medicaid being able to pay for women's reproductive healthcare without restrictions, so for that reason I can get behind this bill.
I don't think it can pass the current Congress, sadly, so I'm not sure it's going anywhere. But it's a good start.
If your old enough to qualify for Medicare your more than likely too old to get pregnant or too sick if you qualify for early Medicare due to medical disabilities like cancer, end stage renal disease or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Shouldn't that have been Medicaid? Everyone I know on Medicare are past their prime for pregnancies. And I would say under that, Medicaid, I would say yes.
Are we planning on Medicare For All? (See Leslie's message, please)
Seems folks are not reading the lede:
Bill Overview
Would require federal health care programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to provide coverage for abortion services and requires federal facilities to provide access to those services.
Repeals the Hyde Amendment, which restricts Medicaid coverage for abortion. Currently, coverage for abortion services under federal programs is generally only available in the case of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
Would repeal a provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that permits states to prohibit coverage of abortion services in plans offered through a health insurance exchange.
The bill is not subject to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion, even if the burden results from the application of a law.
Representatives,
My family and I fully support H.R.561, the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act of 2023 or the EACH Act of 2023.
We urge you to support this bill.
Best Regards.
From
H.R.561 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): EACH Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/561?s=1&r=2
Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Health Insurance Act of 2023 or the EACH Act of 2023
This bill requires federal health care programs (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP)) to provide coverage for abortion services and requires federal facilities to provide access to those services. Currently, coverage for such services under federal programs is generally only available in the case of rape, incest, or life endangerment.
Additionally, the bill repeals certain provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that permit states to prohibit coverage of abortion services in plans offered through a health insurance exchange in the state.
The bill also permits qualified health plans to use funds attributable to premium tax credits and reduced cost-sharing assistance to pay for abortion services.
The bill is not subject to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which generally prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a generally applicable law.