Abortion coverage info not clear in exchange plans
Insurers provide vague information about abortion coverage, making it hard for consumers to discern whether plans they're interested in cover these services, according to a new analysis.
The summary of benefits and coverage for plans sold on the health insurance exchanges don't clearly explain if abortion services are included, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy organization.
Analyzing the benefits information in 12 of the 26 states that allow abortion coverage, Guttmacher researchers found some plans in four states explicitly stated abortion services were covered. Researchers identified only one plan in six states that clearly didn't provide abortion coverage.
Despite the polarizing subject of abortion, both supporters and opponents want insurers to provide clearer information to consumers before they purchase coverage.
"Abortion should be considered basic healthcare and consumers should know whether it's covered or not," Kinsey Hasstedt, author of the analysis and a public policy associate with pro-abortion Guttmacher, told Kaiser Health News.
Anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute agrees. "The people we communicate with are looking for" information about abortion, Chuck Donovan, president of the institute, told KHN. "We're hearing complaints about it."
The problem is the summary of benefits template provided by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services doesn't include abortion coverage. Since that summary is the most logical place to provide abortion information, abortion supporters and opponents alike would like to see it amended.
"It's not in the template, and plans are just following that," says Gretchen Borchelt, senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center. "I think it's a lack of awareness on their part, a lack of familiarity with what should be included."
And it likely doesn't help that HHS admitted it wouldn't fine or penalize insurers for not complying with the benefits and coverage requirements within the first year.
To learn more:
- here's the analysis
- read the Kaiser Health News article
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