Tom Corbett to Prevent Obamacare From Covering Abortions in Pennsylvania


Starting next year under the Affordable Care Act, Pennsylvania residents can use federally-run “exchanges” to shop for health insurance plans. The marketplaces will make comparative shopping easier for consumers. Unless they’re looking for an insurance plan that covers abortion, in which case they’ll be out of luck. Pennsylvania passed a bill yesterday–which Corbett will sign–that prevents consumers from using the exchanges to buy insurance plans that offer abortion coverage. The rationale, from Corbett and the legislature: Even if the plans themselves don’t cost taxpayer money, the exchanges themselves, which are run by the federal government, mind you, do.

This raises a new question: Will private insurers drop out of the market in Pennsylvania, or simply drop abortion coverage from their plans? [PA Independent]