Healthcare summit: Abortion

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Abortion has made its way into the discussion.

House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio says the bill, ‘for the first time in 30 years, allows for the taxpayer funding of abortions.’

President Obama’s proposal is mum on the issue.

The Senate bill, on which the Obama plan is modeled, would require insurers to segregate funds that are used to pay for abortion coverage from those that are used to buy the policy itself. Under this system, consumers who receive federal subsidies for insurance would probably have to make a separate payment for the abortion portion of the policy. That payment would have to come from private funds -- some have suggested it would be as little as $1 a month.

Abortion was a hot topic in the House, which adopted what’s now known as the ‘Stupak amendment.’ Named for Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who proposed it, that provision prohibits consumers from purchasing a plan that covers abortion using federal subsidy dollars. Consumers can instead buy supplemental abortion coverage with their own funds.

Some could argue that because a low-income consumer gets a subsidy to help buy insurance, they are able to afford the cost of abortion coverage.

-- Kim Geiger