Lawsuit Filed over abortion services in Healthsource RI plan

[LoveTrains]

Ugh.  It bothers me that this guy is filing suit over this. I think its nice and progressive that all the plans offered in my state have coverage. But it is interesting that there are federal guidelines over this and it sounds like the state will have to offer at least one more restrictive plan anyway. 

From today's Providence Journal (ProJo):

www.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/content/20150115-lawsuit-filed-over-abortion-services-in-healthsource-ri-plans.ece


Lawsuit filed over abortion services in HealthSource RI plans

Published: January 15, 2015 11:20 PM


BY RICHARD SALIT

JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

[e-mail]

An anonymous Rhode Island man is suing HealthSource RI, claiming that his constitutional right to freedom of religion is being violated because all the exchange’s health plans charge for coverage of abortion services that go beyond federal requirements.

The lawsuit filed on Thursday in U.S. District Court, Providence, is yet another battleground in a long-running national debate over coverage of abortion by health-exchange insurance plans. Rhode Island is now just one of four states whose exchange does not offer a health plan that covers only abortions involving rape, incest or life-threatening conditions.


The case was filed by lawyers from Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization that filed a similar case in Vermont on the same day. It’s supported by the Rhode Island Right to Life Committee, whose executive director, Barth Bracy, sued Connecticut’s exchange last May. Six months later, that exchange offered health plans that don’t offer enhanced abortion services.


Yet when HealthSource RI began open enrollment in mid-November for its slate of health plans for 2015, not one was tailored for those who oppose abortion on religious grounds.


“The Chafee administration was well aware of the problem,” Bracy said when reached for comment on Thursday. “It’s not that they were unaware. It was a willful disregard for pro-lifers’ concerns. They, quite frankly, don’t care to do anything. I offered to work with them on a solution.”


It will all become something of a moot point in two years. That’s because the Affordable Care Act recognizes the religious issues and requires that every exchange, by 2017, offer plans that do not cover abortion services beyond federal requirements.

A spokeswoman for Anya Rader Wallack, director of HealthSource RI, said no one would be made available for an interview and that no comment would be forthcoming until consulting with the staff of Governor Raimondo, who just appointed Wallack to the position.

Raimondo did not respond to a request for an interview.


Instead, she and Wallack issued a joint, two-sentence statement: “Governor Raimondo and Director Wallack understand that this is a sensitive issue for many Rhode Islanders. HealthSource RI is working on addressing coverage options.”

When Raimondo was a candidate, an aide said she was “not opposed” to HealthSource RI offering “an insurance plan that excludes reproductive services. In fact, the Affordable Care Act requires that by 2017, the exchange must do that.”



In Rhode Island, the man who is bringing the case, identified only as John Doe in court papers, has filed a motion seeking to proceed confidentially. The reason is because he is HIV-positive and his needs for medical coverage are both pressing and central to the case, according to Casey Mattox, senior counsel for the Alliance.


When the man, who is involved in the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs, sought coverage from HealthSource RI under the Affordable Care Act, he learned that none of the plan choices aligned with his religious beliefs about abortion, said Mattox. He would not sign up and now also faces a federal penalty for not getting health coverage.


Bracy wouldn’t say exactly how it was John Doe came to his attention, but emphasized that his organization’s anti-abortion efforts at the State House and his personal case in Connecticut were “widely publicized.” Last November, upon withdrawing his lawsuit after the new plans were offered, he said he was “optimistic that it won’t be long before we file in Rhode Island.” That case, he said, generated “lots of calls” from Rhode Island abortion foes.


The federal government mandates that insurance offered through exchanges cover abortions when “the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape or incest, or the life of the pregnant woman would be endangered unless an abortion is performed.”

Plans offering abortion coverage beyond that must determine the additional cost and segregate it from the rest of the plan premium. In Rhode Island, there is no alternative to these plans.


“The government cannot strong-arm Americans from choosing between their health and their values,” lawyer Steven H. Aden said in a statement. “Pro-life individuals should be free to obtain the health care they need without having to violate their deepest convictions.”


One issue raised in the lawsuit is that exchanges, while forced to separate the abortion charge, are prohibited by the federal government from actually divulging the charge. That secrecy impairs subscribers from making informed decisions, said Mattox.

According to a report by the federal Government Accountability Office, in September 2014, 17 states passed laws expressly prohibiting plans with expanded abortion coverage, while another six severely restrict coverage.

Of the remaining 28 states (including the District of Columbia), 15 states offered at least one plan with expanded abortion coverage and eight states offered none.


Connecticut had been among the five listed in the report as offering only plans with the expanded abortion coverage, along with Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey and Hawaii.

While Mattox is the lead counsel on the case, Rhode Island lawyer Joseph S. Larisa Jr., a former East Providence mayor, is co-counsel.

[ttt]

Jan 16, 2015 9:15:45 GMT -5 LoveTrains said:

When the man, who is involved in the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS programs, sought coverage from HealthSource RI under the Affordable Care Act, he learned that none of the plan choices aligned with his religious beliefs about abortion, said Mattox. He would not sign up and now also faces a federal penalty for not getting health coverage.

This does even make sense. Why does your health insurance plan need to align with your religious beliefs? You aren't actually having an abortion, you aren't actually paying for one. 

I hate people so much sometimes. 

[secretlyevil]

I have had a headache all week. It's relevant because I just really don't have the energy for this.

[omgzombies]

One of these days I'm going to start a religion. One of the tenants will be a human beings right to bodily autonomy and the other will be that no person should have to become a parent if they don't want to. And The Lord spoke to me and said "yay, for women are people too, and the people of the earth need to mind their own fucking business."

[kadams767]

I wonder how great this guy would feel if people wanted a la carte health coverage because they didn't want a plan that covers AIDS/HIV treatment? Because you know those people are out there too, and it's also a "religious" matter...