News & Politics
Could a Private Abortion Fund Save Health Care Reform?
It'd be cheaper than you think.
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Health care reform is in trouble. Republicans are holding out, Blue Dogs are feuding with progressives, and now 20 House Democrats have signed a letter opposing any bill "unless it explicitly excludes abortion from the scope of any government-defined or subsidized health insurance plan." Critics are using the specter of subsidized abortions, misleadingly but effectively, to drum up opposition to the whole health package.
This is a headache, but it might lead to a creative resolution. What if you could lock in the support of these iffy Democrats—and buy some good will among Republicans—by privatizing abortion coverage? How much would it cost? Could you raise the money from liberal donors? If you don't, will you end up raising and spending the same money or more to fund ads and lobbying in a protracted health care fight? Would you be forced into worse concessions to other congressional factions? This might be the best deal you can get.
Abortions, at an average of $413 a pop, are cheap. (They can range from $90 to $1,800 or more, depending on gestational age.) It's hard to walk through the doors of a hospital for less. It wouldn't be much of a stretch for a nonprofit organization with deep-pocketed donors to cover the cost of abortions for America's low-income women. Based on conclusions drawn from Guttmacher Institute data, a fund to provide free abortions to every woman in the United States would cost about $500 million per year. A fund limited to low-income women—those at or below 200 percent of the poverty line—would still cover most women who seek abortions, according to calculations based on the most recently available data, at a cost of just $311 million per year.* (That's 751,940 abortions multiplied by $413.)
Could private funders cover that cost? Absolutely. Individuals and foundations give more than $1 billion a year to reproductive-health charities, according to data from the Funders Network, a group that analyzes trends in reproductive-health grants. In 2007, the most recent year for which data are available, nearly $250 million was specifically earmarked for "abortion issues." Although only a small slice of those funds—about $63.7 million—went to abortion-related programs operating in the United States, a reallocation of funds from international groups to American groups or an increase in giving by donors who want to see abortions covered could bolster the total enough to pay for abortions for poor American women.*
An abortion fund wouldn't have to rely entirely on those donors, either. There's another constituency that has proven itself willing to cough up cash: supporters of health care reform. This year, they've already spent around $40 million on TV ads alone. That number will only go up as the debate bogs down in abortion and other sticking points. If these deadlocks aren't broken, the number will soar again the next time health care reform comes up. Why not skip the ad buys and shortcut the fight by putting the money in the abortion fund instead?
Progressives hate the idea of a private abortion fund. They argue that abortion is a medical procedure like any other and should be covered by any insurance plan, public or private. Nobody has to set up charities for appendectomies—why do it for abortions?
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By: Martin | Tue, 09/01/2009 - 01:30
There are several debates as far as health care reform is concerned, many factors are also at stake. Just hoping that they finally came out with the better solution with regard to this issue. . Did you know that Destination and Halloween 2 – with Final Destination (presumably the last sequel) taking the top slot. Both were panned critically, as Final Destination's gimmick is wearing thin, and less people are giving Rob Zombie the benefit of the doubt as a filmmaker. (We get it – you used to be in a band, and your films are boring!) Don't mind the movie reviews, but you may not want to get faxless payday loans to see these films
WHY
By: Azalea | Thu, 08/13/2009 - 13:56
The focus on abortion as the only medical procedure not covered by insurance? An elective abortion is no more covered than other elective but life enhancing medical procedure.
There's no insurance that even covers lasik eye surgery completely nor is there one that allows for poor people to get the organ transplants or other medically necessary things they need. THAT is why we need to push for a private abortion fund. Everytime we cry about how important it is that healthcare include everything and single out abortion as the lone *everything* we spit in the face of the cancer patient too poor for treatment, the HIV patient who can't afford to live, the diabetic who is sent home instead of to dialysis.
Yes! Abortion is very very important but so is the continuation of those people who are already born and just simply trying to live. Using abortion as the ransom for their healthcare is just not a good move at all.