Friday, October 16, 2009

Obamacare and Abortion

In Thursday's article, the fourth in a week-long series on "Obamacare," the Heritage Foundation discussed what some might call dishonesty coming from the White House.
 
While Obama has made public promises -- "Under our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions" -- no specific language has been put into the legislation currently being considered.  White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has been less than forthcoming on the issue.  a quote from the article:
"Conservatives introduced amendments in all five committee markups (three in the House and two in the Senate) that would have specifically prohibited federal funds from being used to cover abortion. None of them passed. Worse, the "compromise" the White House has adopted is an amendment sponsored by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) who has a 100% pro-abortion voting record according to the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). Not only does the Capps amendment allow for federal money to subsidize abortions in private plans and mandate federal funding for abortions in the public option (this according to FactCheck.org), it also requires that at least one insurance plan cover abortion in every geographical region in the country."
Friday's article discusses another ramification of the so-called health-care reform, the way that such reform will be implemented.  They expect to reduce the number of uninsured by 29 million, but the devil is, as always, in the details.  Here's a quote:
"..of those 29 million with new insurance coverage, almost half (14 million), will get their coverage through the welfare programs Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).  That is equivalent to adding every resident of Ohio and Nevada to the welfare rolls.
 
In other words, for half of those Americans who are being promised health reform, they are going to be stunned to find themselves in a welfare office applying for Medicaid. Under the current baselines for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), there will be 76 million individuals served by these programs for at least some part of the year in 2019. If the SFC proposal becomes law, the number on Medicaid/SCHIP will top 90 million. So why do Obamacare supporters want to put 90 million Americans on the welfare rolls? It is cheaper than providing them with real quality health care."
This is nothing less than cost-shifting, plain and simple.  Another quote:
Medicaid was originally created to provide access to health care for families on welfare. Medicaid pays providers 20-25 percent less than does the private sector, forcing doctors and hospitals to subsidize Medicaid through lower rates. This deters doctors and hospitals from participating in the program, creating a lack of access that itself is a form of rationing.