Wednesday, August 05, 2009

ObamaCare Just Touched the Third Rail: It Pays for Abortions?

Now this thing is going to blow right open because abortion is always a powder-keg issue.

A compromise approved by a House committee last week attempted to balance questions of federal funding, personal choice and the conscience rights of clinicians. It would allow the public plan to cover abortion but without using federal funds, only dollars from beneficiary premiums. Likewise, private plans in the new insurance exchange could opt to cover abortion, but no federal subsidies would be used to pay for the procedure.

"It's a sham," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for National Right to Life. "It's a bookkeeping scheme. The plan pays for abortion, and the government subsidizes the plan."

This guy is right about it being a bookkeeping scheme. If you think about it this so-called "bookkeeping scheme" is almost worse because those beneficiary premiums are paid by everyone who is part of the public plan. Also some of this money is subsidized by the federal government up to 4 times (8 times?) the poverty level.

So it would be safe to say that if you choose the public plan you are choosing to support abortions with your beneficiary premiums. In other words if you are on the public plan you will be paying for some other persons abortion. It doesn't matter if you are morally opposed to it or not you are still forced to pay.

I think ObamaCare might have just got its plug pulled as the issue devolves into an abortion debate instead of talk of a public plan vs. private plans or the bending the cost curve or other germane issues. I would hate to be defending this issue when the anti-abortion people and Catholics get involved.

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