Hypocrisy alert! Hypocrisy alert!... According to its website, standard Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield policies cover elective abortions unless the employer specifically opts out.
House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), another staunch opponent of reproductive rights, also provides Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage to his campaign employees.
Both Gingrich and Cantor’s office have not responded to calls from ThinkProgress inquiring if either employer has canceled elective abortion coverage on their insurance coverage.
So, let's see, the
RNC provides health insurance (
update: or did, until the story broke - lol) that covers elective abortions to
its employees, as do "many anti-choice conservative leaders." So, are they all going to drop this coverage immediately or what? Hello? Guys?
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11 comments:
RNC provided, apparently they changed their policy after the story broke
They changed their policy to not include coverage, but they still pay into an insurance poll (Cigna) that DOES provide abortion coverage with those premiums: EXACTLY what they are screaming is illegitimate about the proposed insurance exchange.
So they have not yet escaped the charge of hypocrisy.
Well, that and they were doing this for 18 years, so apparently it only became bad once Democrats proposed letting other people do it too.
Sorry, pool*.
This is what happens when a political party is run by Bozo the Clown and his menagerie of mental midgets.
Um, Lowell, you might want to dig a little further to get your facts straight on this one.
Cantor like all House members and Senators is part of the Federal Employees Health Benefits program, the same as me--I'm a federal employee (not on the Hill, I'm a career lawyer in a federal agency).
The FEHB program by law, as part of the Hyde Amendment bullshit, prohibits elective abortion coverage.
So unless Members of Congress have a different menu of health insurance options from executive branch employees like me, his plan should exclude elective abortion coverage.
And upon follow-up research, my first comment was correct. Cantor's Blue Cross plan likely might be the EXACT SAME ONE I HAVE, if he has the standard option family plan.
And none of our options in the FEHB cover elective abortions.
The better argument is to simply point out that Cantor HAS subsidized health insurance, at taxpayer's expense or through a loan from China, depending on how you want to characterize the sourcing of the subsidy.
And the subsidy we (as federal employees) get, folks, is mighty generous, up to 75% of the premiums! Cantor's plan likely costs over $1200 monthly in premiums, and he pays only a few hundred dollars of that. Same goes for me.
The truth is the FEHB is a micro version of Germany's nationwide health insurance system. It's heavily-regulated private insurance with gobs of options to ensure sufficient competition to help keep costs down.
Jayant,
The point is not whether FEHBP offers abortion coverage to federal employees.It is whether the insurance companies who are part of the FEHBP offer abortion services to any other potential members. That's what makes the Stupak Amendment so egregious..If we want to enforce what the amendment now says, all federal employees will not be able to choose any health plan of their choice, only ones that do not cover abortion services for anyone. And, by the way, I wonder what insurance Bart Stupak has...hmm.
Terry, I'm pro-choice and totally against the Stupak amendment and don't disagree with you that the language is bad enough to be easily construed to restrict abortion coverage by private insurance more than some realize.
But the point of Lowell's post was to claim Cantor's health insurance covers abortion. Unless Cantor for his health insurance is going outside the FEHB which is inconceivable, Lowell is wrong.
Jayant: Three points.
1. This wasn't my research, so you might want to check the original Think Progress article I linked to right at the top of the article (http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/13/cantor-gingrich-abortions/).
2. Click here (http://www.carefirst.com/providers/edi/EDIHints.html) to view "Professional and Institutional Services Accepted Electronically for Maryland and NCA Indemnity, Federal Employee Program and National Accounts (NASCO*)." Note that it does include "Elective Abortion."
3. Having said that, I agree with you regarding FEHBP; clearly, it doesn't cover "elective abortion," so this is confusing in the Think Progress article. Still, there's no doubt that Think Progress is correct about Gingrich, and also about CareFirst Blue Shield in general. I presume that's what they were getting at. Regardless, what Terry says above is 100% on point, that "The point is not whether FEHBP offers abortion coverage to federal employees. It is whether the insurance companies who are part of the FEHBP offer abortion services to any other potential members." Because we're talking about setting up an insurance "exchange" where this will be an issue, and also because of the Stupid...er, Stupak Amendment.
One more point: they're talking about his campaign employees, not about his House staff. That's totally different.
OK, Lowell, your last comment is the one that proves me wrong. I wondered if I might have missed something since this would be an elementary research mistake if they're talking about Cantor or his House staff, but if it's his campaign staff, they are NOT in the FEHBP.
Thanks for the clarification.
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