NARAL Writing Campaign (One of Thousands Received)

I'm writing today as a NARAL Pro-Choice America supporter to urge you to protect women's access to abortion coverage as you implement the Affordable Care Act. As you're aware, the law includes a set of abortion-coverage provisions - commonly referred to as the Nelson restrictions - which impose unfair and unnecessary burdens on consumers who purchase plans that offer abortion coverage and on the insurance plans themselves. Specifically, these restrictions require that insurance plans in the new health-care system segregate payments for abortion services from all other funds, and that individuals purchasing a plan with abortion coverage make two separate premium payments - one for abortion coverage, and another for all other benefits. As the Department of Health and Human Services creates regulations for the new state health-insurance exchanges, we urge you to implement the Nelson restrictions in the least-burdensome manner possible, both for plans and for consumers. Clear and explicit federal regulatory language is necessary to ensure that anti-choice state officials do not impose additional restrictions or administrative burdens on health plans that offer abortion coverage. Thank you for ensuring that the Nelson abortion-coverage restrictions are implemented in a manner that continues to allow women to access insurance plans that offer full abortion coverage.