Health Care Legislation - Essay Example

It was in the House of Representative's chief governmental plan of reforming the health care that the Affordable Health Care Act of America was initially drafted, but just recently became law. This paper will discuss the new Affordable Health Care Act and mainly focus on the abortion part of the act. According to the Affordable Health Care Act, Abortion is the termination of pregnancy through the expulsion or removal of an embryo or womb from the uterus before viability. The law states that an abortion can take place instinctively the first case is referred to as a miscarriage, and the second case is called a deliberately induced abortion.

The term, however, according to the Affordable Health Care Act commonly refers to the forced abortion of a human pregnancy. The American congress chose to pass the law on abortion due to various reasons. The major reason, however, that made the law be passed was because public funds, unlike in the past, would no longer be used to cater for abortion. The United States congress settled that the individuals who were carrying out abortion would cater for their own bill in the hospital. That meant that no insurance would be involved.

In the past, abortion cases were sorted out by public funding. Now, the government thought that it would only be liable if the party engaging in the act would cater for the bill since they chose it and, hence, they should not leave the burden to the public. The Affordable Health Care Act sticks to the status quo on abortion rule. The law does not shift to federal abortion policy in either a pro-choice or pro-life direction. The following provisions from the bill were to make sure that the bill did not restrict or expand the previous abortion law, but to change it for the better.

Below are some of the bills restrictions on abortion (Responsible Reform for the Middle Class, 2012). Health Plans Should Not Cover Abortion The law stated that health plans should not cover abortions as part of its vital health benefits package. The law states that the intended health plans can cover abortions only if the case was due to Hyde amendment. Hyde amendment means that either one in pregnant as a result of rape, life endangerment and incest (Responsible Reform for the Middle Class, 2012).

No Public Funds for Abortion Care or Abortion Coverage The law also clearly state that no cost sharing subsidies or tax credits may be used for abortion cases that are not permitted by Hyde. The law states that only private premiums can be set aside from public funds that can be used to cater for abortion services beyond those allowed by Hyde (Responsible Reform for the Middle Class, 2012). No Public Funds for Abortion Coverage in the Public Health Insurance The law states that a medical practitioner might determine whether or not the Public Health Insurance provides coverage for abortions outside those allowed by Hyde.

It states that a doctor needs to be compliant with the rules that prohibit the use of federal funds in carrying out abortion. The doctor also needs guarantees that are founded on three different accounting principles. No public funds should be used. Finally, the doctor needs to take all essential steps to make sure that U.S. does not bear the insurance risk for abortions further than those permitted by Hyde (Responsible Reform for the Middle Class, 2012). Enrollees are guaranteed Access to Varied Coverage in the Exchanges The bill also state that a doctor must make sure that, in each exchange, there should be more than one plan available that covers abortions ahead of