Planned Parenthood of Maryland and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing the Trump administration over a rule that will require some health insurers to send their customers separate premium bills to cover abortion.
The finalized rule, slated to go into effect June, requires insurers in the Obamacare marketplace to send separate bills to enrollees, one for abortion coverage and one for all other healthcare costs. Attorneys with the ACLU and Planned Parenthood Federation of America argue that high administrative costs for insurers will cause them to drop abortion coverage altogether.
“The Trump administration’s new insurance rule is another attack on abortion care, designed solely to push safe, legal abortion further out of reach,” said Meagan Burrows, an ACLU attorney.
Beneficiaries will also have to pay each monthly premium bill separately, using two checks, two money orders, or two electronic transactions.
When the rule was finalized Dec. 20, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that it “fulfills Congress’ intent and reflects President Trump’s strong commitment to preventing taxpayer funding of abortion coverage.”
Federal funding for abortions, except when necessary to save a woman’s life or in cases of rape or incest, is prohibited by the Hyde Amendment, a restriction added to federal spending legislation. Anti-abortion activists wanted Hyde language also to be included in Obamacare.
“It is cruel and unacceptable that the Trump administration is interfering in my health care and trying to interfere with how health insurance companies do business, just because they want to make it more difficult for me to access my right to abortion,” said a plaintiff in the case named Rebecca.
