ACA critics attack plan cancellations, abortion coverage

Conservative political arguments against healthcare reform are mounting, most recently in challenges from two U.S. Representatives: Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) called the Affordable Care Act a "war on women" in Saturday's Republican weekly national address, and Chris Smith (R-N.J.) criticized the Obama administration for including elective abortion benefits in all but nine ACA insurance plans available to Congress and its employees.

Ellmers called on President Barack Obama to "scrap" or delay implementation of the reform law, according to UPI, saying the ACA "denies mothers the ability to make choices for their families."

After receiving constituent complaints about non-compliant policy cancellations and premium hikes, Ellmers told Americans "by canceling your insurance--despite a promise to let you keep you plan--the Obama administration is essentially saying it knows what's best for you and your family. ... [T]hey are making you pay more, usually much more, and in many cases taking away the doctors you've been seeing for years," UPI noted.        

Her remarks followed news that Republicans held coaching sessions to help lawmakers find inoffensive ways to campaign against female opponents in next year's elections, the News Observer reported. 

In other ACA criticism, Smith accused Obama of breaking a 2009 promise that no federal dollars would be used to fund abortion. Last month, Smith introduced legislation requiring insurers to disclose whether their products contain abortion benefits, FierceHealthPayer previously reported.  

"Once again it is clear that Obamacare's abortion mandate violates federal law and makes taxpayers complicit in the culture of death," Smith said in an announcement quoted by Christian News. "This is not reform."

For more:
- read the UPI article
- see the News Observer article
- here's the Christian News article

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