First District Congressman Tim Huelskamp’s (R-KS) stop in Hays Wednesday afternoon was his 201st town hall meeting.
About 70 people attended the session in the Rose Garden Banquet Hall (formerly the Fanchon Ballroom), including a dozen or so TMP Marian High School students.
The first question from the audience involved the Affordable Care Act and abortion coverage in the health plan exchanges:
The law requires health exchanges to have at least one plan that does not include elective abortion, so that abortion opponents could avoid purchasing policies that cover the procedure. But the information has not been on the federal website healthcare.gov.
According to information from the Guttmacher Institute, Kansas is one of 23 states to pass laws banning all plans in their health exchange from offering coverage for elective abortion. Eight of those states, including Kansas, have also banned private insurers from offering coverage for abortion. In Kansas there is an exception for endangerment of the mother’s life. Kansas does allow abortion coverage to be sold as a separate policy.
Founded in 1968, the Guttmacher Institute institutes integrating nonpartisan social science research, policy analysis and public education to provide a factual basis for the development of sound governmental policies and for public consideration of the issues involved in the promotion of reproductive health and rights.