Health Care Revisions Underway

Capps vs. Baucus

Abortion Coverage Mandate

Capps: Federal government is not permitted to mandate abortion (regardless of circumstance) in the essential benefits package. The public plan is authorized to cover abortion and private plans are permitted to choose whether to cover abortion. At least one plan in each premium rating area must provide coverage for abortion; and at least one plan in each premium rating area must either provide coverage for no abortions, or only abortions for which federal funding is permitted in the annual Hyde amendment.

Baucus: Under the original Baucus proposal, abortions for which funding is permitted in the HHS Appropriations bill could be mandated. However, the Baucus modification to the Baucus proposal modifies that provision so that the Baucus provision now mirrors the Capps amendment policy.

Public Plan and Co-ops

Capps: Public plan is authorized to use federal funds to pay for abortion. (No co-ops)

Baucus: Government will spend at least $6 billion establishing co-ops that could cover abortion. (No public plan)

Subsidies for Coverage

Capps: Affordability credits may be used to purchase health insurance that includes abortion. Capps says that affordability credits can not be used for abortion (other than those abortions permitted under the Hyde amendment in the given year) and then creates an exception that permits use of affordability credits to pay for plans that include abortion as long as an accounting mechanism is employed to label abortion reimbursements as drawn from a pool of private premium payments. The pool of private premium payments is made possible by a requirement that at least $1 per month from each premium holder is designated for abortion reimbursements. This arrangement is inconsistent with all existing federal restrictions on abortion funding which currently prohibit subsidizing coverage that includes abortion.

Baucus: Refundable advanceable tax credits may be used to purchase health insurance that includes abortion under the accounting mechanisms outlined in the Capps amendment.

Existing Laws

Capps: Nothing in the Act may pre-empt state laws regarding abortion funding, coverage or procedural requirements or federal conscience laws.

Baucus: Provisions are the same as the provisions included in Capps.

Conscience Protection

Capps: No participating health benefits plan may discriminate against any individual health care provider or facility because of its willingness or unwillingness to provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions. (Separate from the Capps amendment, the House Energy and Commerce Committee also adopted the Stupak amendment to attach the Hyde-Weldon conscience provision to H.R. 3200.)

Baucus: Provisions are the same as the provisions included in Capps. (The Stupak amendment is not included in the Baucus bill.)