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HR 3200 - Expanding Abortion and Paying for it with Your Tax Dollars

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Since the creation of HR 3200, President Obama’s health care plan, pro-life organizations have said HR 3200 will allow for a massive expansion in taxpayer funded abortions. This is now a documented reality. Last week, an amendment from Congresswoman Lois Capps (D-CA) was adopted. It clearly allows elective abortion coverage to be part of the “public option plan”. The amendment also allows federally subsidized private plans to provide elective abortion coverage. Since the federal funds for this bill do not pass through the appropriations covered by the Hyde amendment or other bans on direct federal funding of abortion, the bans do not apply. Therefore, under HR 3200 federal dollars can be – and will be – appropriated to fund abortions.

To quote the Associated Press, “A law called the Hyde amendment applies the [federal funding] restrictions to Medicaid, forcing states that cover abortion for low-income women to do so with their own money. Separate laws apply the restrictions to the federal employee health plan and military and other programs. But the health overhaul would create a stream of federal funding not covered by the restrictions.”

Doug Johnson with National Right to Life Committee says that this amendment will result in taxpayer funding of elective abortions. "It's a bookkeeping scheme” said Johnson, “The [private] plan pays for abortion, and the government subsidizes the plan."

In a written statement, Congressman Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) said, "The amendment would still allow for taxpayer funding to pay for plans that cover abortion. This is a fig leaf, designed to lure votes from Members who want cover on the issue. The American people will not be fooled. We want an explicit exclusion in the bill to prevent any taxpayer funding from paying for abortions. Anything else is wrong, and contrary to overwhelming popular opinion.”

-Does House Healthcare Bill Fund Abortion?

-Waxman Strong-arms Vote to Allow Abortion Coverage in Public Plan

HR 3200 - It Depends on One's Definition of "End of Life Care" st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

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Section 1233 of HR 3200 is the brainchild of Oregon’s own Earl Blumenauer. It establishes “Advance Care Planning Consultations” for Medicare patients. Contrary to some reports, these consultations are not currently mandatory, but they still merit caution. These Advance Care Planning Consultations can take place at least every five years and are between a patient and practitioner. The goal of the consultation is to establish advance care planning on, “advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses…palliative care and hospice.” The practitioner is also directed to provide, “a list of nation and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families with advance care planning…”

The inclusion of “State-specific resources” is especially concerning in Oregon where assisted suicide is legal and currently treated as palliative care by the Oregon Health Plan.

Section 1233 also establishes training on, “the goals and use of orders for life sustaining treatments” to all health care workers.

To quote Wesley J. Smith, Senior Fellow in Human Rights and Bioethics at the Discovery Institute, associate director of the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, and a special consultant for the Center for Bioethics and Culture,

End of life counseling could easily be subtly or overtly outcome directed, as studies have shown often happens with genetic counseling of pregnant women testing positive for a Down fetus. Thus, there is much about which to be concerned when Medicare pays practioners to engage in counseling about end of life, and indeed, authorizes part of the counseling to consist of referrals to outside organizations that might have ideological agendas (such as Compassion and Choices [formally known as the Hemlock Society]). That is why, if the counseling provision remains in the bill, I believe protections against such abuse should be added.