I’m about to post a thought that occurred to me about the House health care bill, and more specifically the Stupak amendment that secured its passage. I’m not going to weigh in on abortion as a practice. Honestly I doubt it’s even in my top 10 issues I care about when it comes to politics, and I think the bill is horrible regardless of how it’s dealt with. However, many liberal blogs are unsurprisingly outraged about it. Over at the Tapped blog there are many posts railing about the amendment, and there is a great deal of effort to refer to the issue as “reproductive health”. After all, if it’s got health in the name, it must have to be included in a health care bill.
But the question I have has to do more with the basic nature of insurance itself, at least as we currently know it. Insurance does not cover elective procedures. If it’s not medically necessary, insurance doesn’t pay for it. My Lasik surgery payments are proof of that. Abortion, except in obvious exceptions, is essentially an elective procedure. It’s right there in the name of the supporters, Pro-CHOICE. In most cases, it’s a choice made by the woman or couple based on lifestyle choice, not on medical health. So why should insurance cover this particular elective procedure and not others?