Life News
President Trump Issues New Rule Stopping Obamacare’s Hidden Abortion Surcharge
By Steven Ertelt
WASHINGTON, DC - President Donald Trump’s administration continues to look out for American taxpayers to ensure they are not forced to fund abortions.
Since he was elected, President Trump has ensured his administration is doing everything possible to get America out of the abortion business. From defunding International Planned Parenthood during his first week in office to cutting domestic funding for the abortion company, the Trump administration has time and time again worked to divest taxpayer dollars from the abortion industry.
Last November, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued the new rule directing insurers selling Obamacare plans that cover elective abortion to collect a separate payment from enrollees for that coverage, as required by law. Under the Obama administration, insurers were allowed to collect these payments together in violation of statutory language.
Today, the Trump administration finalized the new rule enforcing the Obamacare statute that requires insurers selling Obamacare plans that cover elective abortion to collect a separate payment from enrollees for that coverage. That makes it so anyone wanting to kill their baby in an abortion is required to pay for their own abortion rather than access Americans’ wallets to pay for it. The Obama administration sidestepped the law by allowing insurers to collect payments for elective abortion coverage together with other service fees, so the enforcement of federal law is crucial to ensuring Americans are not on the hook for abortion costs.
The pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List told LifeNews.com it’s delighted the Trump administration is once again going to bat for Americans, most of whom don;t want to pay for taxpayer-financed abortions.
“We thank President Trump, Acting Director Vought, Secretary Azar, Administrator Verma, and all who worked to finalize this rule to enforce the law and provide transparency about abortion funding hiding in Obamacare,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.
She told LifeNews.com: “Obamacare was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion since Roe v. Wade, dramatically increasing abortion funding by subsidizing plans that cover abortion on demand. Making this dramatic expansion even more onerous, the Obama administration allowed insurers to ignore the law by burying the abortion surcharge in plan documents instead of collecting it separately. This new rule will ensure compliance so that ‘separate’ no longer means ‘together’ when it comes to funding abortion. President Trump has delivered an important victory for American consumers and taxpayers, the majority of whom oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions.”
Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska also praised the president for issuing the new rule.
He told LifeNews that the rule brings insurance companies who had flaunted the law under the Obama Administration into compliance.
“This pro-life, pro-transparency rule is an important step in the right direction. Obamacare uses publicly-subsidized plans that cover abortion on demand. The Obama Administration hid the ball by letting insurance companies bury a legally required abortion surcharge in paperwork, but this new Trump Administration rule makes sure that the fee is out in the open. This is good news for Nebraskans who don’t want their tax dollars funding abortion businesses,” he explained.
SBA indicated the pro-life rule is needed because some states are authorizing tax-funded abortions in Obamacare.
Open enrollment for the 2020 plan year has ended. In 12 of 24 states plus the District of Columbia that provide taxpayer-funded Obamacare insurance plans, 80 percent or more of those plans cover abortion on demand. In eight of those locales, every single Obamacare plan for individuals and families covers elective abortion. SBA List’s research arm the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) and Family Research Council launched Obamacareabortion.com in 2014 as a resource to help consumers find health plans that do not include elective abortion.
“We’re thankful to our allies in Congress who have remained vigilant in seeking to protect the conscience rights of their pro-life constituents and health care consumers. The dedicated leadership of Representatives Chris Smith, Michael Cloud, Jeff Duncan, as well as Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith was instrumental in securing enforcement of this rule,” Dannenfelser said.
In 2018, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) led 102 members in sending an initial letter to HHS requesting law enforcement regulations to make consumers aware of the abortion surcharge. In 2019, he joined Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) in authoring a letter signed by 50 Members of Congress urging HHS to address the hidden surcharge that continued to fund abortion.
Later in July, another letter was sent to urge finalization, co-authored by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Rep. Michael Cloud. 103 Members of Congress and 25 U.S. Senators signed the letter. Most recently in October of this year, Rep. Jeff Duncan sent a final letter to urge the enforcement of the separate payments rule leading up to the Obamacare open enrollment period, signed by 85 Members of Congress.
“The Obama Administration’s misinterpretation created a hidden abortion surcharge on many health care plans in exchanges throughout the nation,” said U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, of Mississippi, in a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar.
Pro-life groups praised the Trump administration for the rule after it was introduced late last year.
“While only comprehensive legislative reform can cure the multiple abortion-expanding components of Obamacare, today’s proposed rule from the Trump Administration sends a strong message that the federal government ought to get out of the business of paying for abortion until Obamacare can be replaced,” said Jennifer Popik, J.D., National Right to Life legislative director.
President Trump’s record on pro-life values has been so strong a pro-life organization honored President Donald Trump on Sunday as a “courageous” advocate for life.
Trump has taken a number of important actions to protect unborn babies since he became president.
In one of his first acts as president, he reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding to international groups that promote or provide abortions overseas. The change defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million in U.S. tax dollars.
Trump also repeatedly calls out the Democratic Party’s extreme position on abortion. During his state of the union address this year, Trump slammed the governors of New York and Virginia for promoting abortion up to birth and infanticide. He also called for Congress to pass a ban on late-term abortions on babies who are capable of feeling pain.
Trump and his administration have made a number of changes to protect those who morally object to abortions, expanding conscience protections for pro-life medical workers and increasing religious exemptions for Obamacare.
His administration also intervened to stop the United Nations from supporting abortion in a resolution about sexual violence. In 2018, under his leadership, the State Department removed references to the so-called “right” to abort an unborn baby from a global human rights report as well.
This spring, the administration also finalized a new Title X rule that requires health care entities to completely separate abortion from their taxpayer-funded services. Planned Parenthood lost about $60 million in taxpayer funding through the policy change.
Trump also has appointed dozens of conservative judges to federal courts, including two to the U.S. Supreme Court.