Abortion covered in most health plans for Congress
A lawmaker says abortion is covered in 90 percent of the insurance plans being offered to members of Congress and their staff under President Barack Obama's health care law.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith, who opposes abortion, said Wednesday only nine of the 112 insurance plans offered to Congress through the Washington, D.C., insurance market exclude abortion as a covered benefit.
That highlights a potential national issue: It may be hard for consumers to determine whether abortion is a covered benefit in plans offered through the law's online markets.
Under the health care law, insurers can cover abortion as long as they do not use taxpayer money to pay for it. A GOP amendment to Obama's law put lawmakers and congressional staff in the same system as the uninsured.
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