How The House Abortion Restrictions Would Work

[The Straight Story]

Snip....

Q: Do such policies exist?

A: Five states – Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma – prohibit insurers from covering abortions except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest, but allow insurers to sell separate abortion riders. Insurance departments in Idaho, Kentucky and Missouri say they don’t track such riders, so it isn’t clear if any are offered. North Dakota and Oklahoma say insurers there don't offer abortion riders to individuals. In Oklahoma, however, one insurer has filed for a rider to offer abortion coverage to small groups. And in Idaho, one of the state’s major insurers offers abortion coverage to small groups if they pay an additional premium charge.

Q: How many people currently have abortion coverage in their health plans?

A: A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2003 found that 46 percent of workers had insurance that covered abortion. (KHN is part of the foundation.) Experts say most people use their own funds to pay for abortion. According to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive issues, about 13 percent of abortions are directly billed to insurers. That percentage could be low because some people may pay for abortions directly, then seek reimbursement from insurers, the institute says.

Q: Are there other restrictions on federal funding of abortion coverage?

A: Yes. The 1976 Hyde Amendment bars the use of federal funds to pay for abortions, except to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest. Thirty-two state Medicaid programs, the joint federal-state programs for low-income people, limit abortion funding to those cases, according to the Guttmacher Institute. One, South Dakota, pays for Medicaid abortions only to save the life of the mother. And 17 use state funds to more widely offer abortions through their Medicaid programs. Restrictions on payment for abortion coverage are also in place for federal employees, women serving overseas in the U.S. military and women in federal prisons.

Q: How much do abortions cost?

A: First-trimester abortions can cost between $300 and $900, according to Planned Parenthood. Later-term abortions or abortions where women may face a higher risk of complications are more expensive, running several thousand dollars if hospital care is required.

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2009/November/10/abortion-explainer.aspx

[JoeyT]

1. The cost is interesting.

Especially since we keep being told an abortion only costs $300 over and over and over.

[mmonk]

2. In cases such as hydrocephalus problems that endanger

the life of the mother (and which the fetus will die anyway) which is a major reason for performing a late term abortion (since if the reason would be something else, the mother wouldn't wait that long), should cost be the going concern any more than other procedures?

[JoeyT]

3. Nope.

What I was referring to was the people that insist on telling us that anyone can scrape together a couple hundred bucks for an abortion if they really need one. I knew they were more expensive than that and why they were. Sorry about not adding a bit more context in there.