RNC employee health insurance plan covers abortion.
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on November 13th, 2009 5:35 am by HL
RNC employee health insurance plan covers abortion.
Last week, 176 House Republicans joined with 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, which could “could effectively stop many employer-provided health insurance plans from covering abortions for tens of millions of Americans” and restrict any private plan in the insurance exchange from offering abortion coverage. However, Politico reports today that the […]
Last week, 176 House Republicans joined with 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, which could “could effectively stop many employer-provided health insurance plans from covering abortions for tens of millions of Americans” and restrict any private plan in the insurance exchange from offering abortion coverage. However, Politico reports today that the RNC’s own employee health care plan covers elective abortion — “a procedure the party’s own platform calls ‘a fundamental assault on innocent human life’”:
Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.
Informed of the coverage, RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that the policy pre-dates the tenure of current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.
“The current policy has been in effect since 1991, and we are taking steps to address the issue,” Gitcho said. […]
According to several Cigna employees, the insurer offers its customers the opportunity to opt out of abortion coverage — and the RNC did not choose to opt out.
Recently it was also revealed that the health insurance plan used by the right-wing, anti-choice organization Focus on the Family also covered “abortion services.”
ThinkFast: November 12, 2009
President Obama will not accept any of the options given to him by Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the future of U.S. involvement in the Afghanistan war. Obama “believes the U.S. needs to make clear to the Afghan government that America’s commitment to the country isn’t open ended,” an official said in a statement. Karl W. Eikenberry, the […]
President Obama will not accept any of the options given to him by Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the future of U.S. involvement in the Afghanistan war. Obama “believes the U.S. needs to make clear to the Afghan government that America’s commitment to the country isn’t open ended,” an official said in a statement.
Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, has sent two cables to Washington in the past week expressing his opposition to a troop surge in Afghanistan. Eikenberry instead favors a focus on improving governance and anti-corruption measures in the country.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll has found that 56 percent of Americans oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan and just 40 percent support the war there, where as 58 percent oppose the conflict.
A repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will “likely be included as part of next year’s Department of Defense authorization bill in both chambers of Congress,” according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Congress would vote on the legislation next spring, and it will go into effect Oct. 1, 2010.
In a speech at Southern Methodist University today, President Bush will initiate his new public policy institute “as a forum for study and advocacy in four main areas: education, global health, human freedom and economic growth.” Bush “will announce the appointment of the first five of two dozen scholars to be affiliated” with the George W. Bush Institute. Laura Bush will also give a speech.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley “may be about to market their expertise to private-sector clients,” TPMmuckraker reports. The RiceHadley Group LLC was registered as a business in California in September and is said to be a “strategic consulting” firm.
NPR reports that, in the spring of last year, officials from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences held a series of meetings and conversations to express concerns about Maj. Nidal M. Hasan. These officials “wondered aloud” whether Hasan might be “capable of committing fratricide.”
Speaking at a philanthropic event in New York City yesterday, billionaire Bill Gates said he believes that Wall Street compensation is often too high. “The compensation problem is a very interesting problem. I do think compensation is often too high, but it’s a very tough problem to solve,” said Gates.
The Obama administration is considering using unspent TARP bailout funds to pay down the debt. “The Treasury Department said about $210 billion in TARP funds remains unspent, including about $70 billion returned from financial institutions. A further $50 billion is expected to be repaid in the next 12 to 18 months.”
And finally: Helen Thomas for president in 2012?
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