Obamacare enrollees can receive taxpayer-funded abortions, despite the fact that federal law technically prohibits such subsidies, a Government Accountability Office review found.
“Of the 18 issuers from which GAO obtained information—which offered nearly one-quarter of the QHPs covering non-excepted abortion services in the 28 states—all but three issuers indicated that the benefit is not subject to any restrictions, limitations, or exclusions,” according to GAO.
The report notes that “in 5 states (Connecticut, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont), all [health plans available through Obamacare exchanges] cover non-excepted abortion services.”
Federal law bans the subsidization of elective abortions, which was a sticking point in the negotiations to pass the Affordable Care Act in the first place.
“[T]he original compromise that President Barack Obama sealed with anti-abortion Democrats stipulated that no federal funds would be used to pay for elective abortions,” the Associated Press recalled. “Instead, private health plans covering the procedure would collect a separate premium, which would be segregated from federal subsidies for other medical services.”
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said that the report revealed “another Obamacare broken promise” from Obama and congressional Democrats.
“For years Republicans have warned that Obamacare would force taxpayers to support elective abortions, while the White House continued to hide behind bureaucracy and evade transparency when pressed on whether they were keeping their promise,” Priebus said. “House Republicans even passed legislation to fix this exact problem in a law filled with broken promises and hidden agendas. Instead of being part of the solution, Democrats like Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor and Kay Hagan helped Harry Reid stand in the way of House legislation to prevent taxpayer dollars from covering abortions under ObamaCare. It’s time we voted them out and elected someone who will be part of the solution, not the problem.”