From the beginning of the Obamacare debate years ago, abortion coverage in subsidized insurance plans has been a major concern. The Obama administration has already overstepped its authority by forcing religious institutions to cover contraception and now, Congress is forcing taxpayers opposed to abortion to subsidize Obamacare health insurance plans for Congressional staffers and their bosses at a rate of $11,000 per plan. Terry Jeffery has more on the numbers:
Under a regulation issued by the Office of Personnel Management, members of Congress and their staff will be able to use federal subsidies worth up to $11,378 per year to purchase any of the 103 different health insurance plans that expressly cover elective abortions that are now being offered on the Washington, D.C. Obamacare exchange.
The federal subsidy members of Congress and their staff can now use to buy health-insurance plans that cover elective abortions contradicts a vow Obama made in a nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 9, 2009.
Just as President Obama promised Americans that if they liked their health insurance plans, they could keep them, he also promised zero taxpayer dollars would be used to cover abortions. In fact, pro-life Democrat Bart Stupak and others like him voted for Obamacare based on this promise. It turns out, Barack Obama lied again in order to get his signature piece of legislation rammed through Congress and on his desk for signature. Stupak was the last vote needed.
Late last year at the 2012 DNC convention, Stupak expressed his disappointment with the President's broken promise during a pro-life panel in North Carolina and said the HHS mandate for contraception is illegal.
“I am perplexed and disappointed that, having negotiated the Executive Order with the President, not only does the HHS mandate violate the Executive Order but it also violates statutory law.”
Here we are again with another, "We told you so," moment. It won't be the last