CHARLOTTE — Bishop Peter Jugis is asking for support for a new pro-life regulation and asking legislatures to make it stronger.
Catholic Voice NC, the non-partisan voice of the Diocese of Charlotte, issued an alert Friday asking the faithful to voice their opinion by Feb. 19 at 5 p.m. in support of the regulation proposed by the Trump Administration.
The federal regulation would affect the Affordable Care Act, which currently allows health insurance companies to include abortion in the health plans they offer on state insurance exchanges, the alert states.
“Although 26 states banned coverage of elective abortion in all health plans sold on their exchanges, the other 24 states plus the District of Columbia allow abortion to be covered,” the alert stated. “And worse, eight of these states and the District of Columbia only offer plans that cover abortion.
Fortunately, North Carolina has life-affirming legislation that does not allow abortion coverage on any of its insurance exchanges.”
To address this problem in those 24 states, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a new regulation saying that if an issuer of health plans offers plans that cover abortion, it must also offer at least one otherwise identical plan that does not cover abortion.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has filed written comments applauding HHS for this proposal. But the USCCB has also urged HHS to make the proposed regulation stronger in two ways:
(1) HHS should modify the regulation to ensure the availability, at every benefit level, of plans that do not cover any abortion, elective or otherwise.
(2) HHS should also require clear and conspicuous notice to consumers indicating whether or not a plan covers abortion, so they can make a well-informed decision.
The deadline to send feedback is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19.
Send your message in support: https://www.votervoice.net/BroadcastLinks/SH9FKu3TaPFFW0aFdDBBCg
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