Fox News Watchdog

In a March 11 Wall Street Journal editorial, Fox News Contributor Karl Rove falsely claimed that the Senate health care bill has “abortion-funding language,” adds to the deficit and contains no immediate benefits. In fact, the Senate bill prohibits federal funding of abortion, contains numerous immediate benefits, and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, reduces the deficit.

Rove: Senate bill
funds abortion, adds to the deficit, and doesn’t provide immediate
benefits

Rove:  Senate
bill contains “abortion funding language.” In a March 11
Wall Street Journal editorial,
Rove falsely suggested the Senate bill allowed for federal funding of abortion.
Rove wrote, “Pro-life House Democrats are deeply disturbed by the Senate
abortion-funding language.”

Rove: “Senate
bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit.”
Rove also falsely claimed the Senate
bill would add to the deficit, writing, “Blue Dogs are upset by the fact that
the Senate bill adds hundreds of billions of dollars to the
deficit.”

Rove falsely suggested
Senate bill contained no immediate “benefits.” Rove also claimed that
“[t]he Senate bill’s tax increases and Medicare benefit cuts kick in right away
while its benefits (subsidies for health-care coverage) don’t start until 2013
and aren’t fully operational for seven years,” falsely suggesting that the only
“benefits” in the bill are “subsidies for health-care
coverage.”

Senate bill prohibits health
insurers from using federal subsidies to pay for abortion services restricted by
Hyde

The
Senate health care reform bill as passed states
that if a “qualified health plan” offered under the health insurance exchange
provides coverage of abortion services for which public funding is banned, “the
issuer of the plan shall not use any amount attributable” to the subsidies
created under the bill “for purposes of paying for such services.”

Senate bill
establishes a separate premium to segregate funds used to pay for abortions from
federal funds. The Senate bill as passed further
requires
issuers to “collect from each enrollee” in plans that cover
abortions a “separate payment” for “an amount equal to the actuarial value of
the coverage of” abortion services. This value must be at least $1 per enrollee,
per month. All such funds are deposited into a separate account used by the
issuer to pay for abortion services; federal funds and the remaining premium
payments are used to pay for all other services.

Current law
allows for Medicaid to provide coverage for abortions restricted by Hyde by
using similar fund segregation. According to a November 1, 2009, study
by the Guttmacher Institute, 17 states provide coverage under Medicaid for “all
or most medically necessary abortions,” not just abortions in cases of life
endangerment, rape, and incest. Those states “us[e] their own funds” — not
federal funds — “to pay” for the procedures. Therefore, in 17 states, Medicaid,
a federally
subsidized health care program, covers abortions in
circumstances in which federal money is prohibited from being spent on
abortion.

CBO: Senate
health care bill will lower the deficit

CBO: Senate bill
yields “a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion” over 10 years.
On December 19, 2009, CBO reported
of the Senate bill incorporating the manager’s amendment:

CBO
and JCT estimate that the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act incorporating the manager’s amendment
would yield a net reduction in federal deficits of $132 billion over the
2010-2019 period.

CBO: Over second
10 years, Senate bill would save “between one-quarter percent and one-half
percent of GDP.” In a December 20, 2009, letter
amending the December 19 report, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf wrote:

All
told, CBO expects that the legislation, if enacted, would reduce federal budget
deficits over the decade after 2019 relative to those projected under current
law — with a total effect during that decade that is in a broad range between
one-quarter percent and one-half percent of GDP.

Numerous benefits from Senate health
care bill would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the
bill

Senate Democrats
note “Immediate Benefits” of health care bill. Despite Rove’s
suggestion, according to a document
put forth by Senate Democrats summarizing the “Immediate Benefits” of The
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the bill includes numerous benefits
that would “be available in the first year after enactment” of the bill. The
benefits include “access to affordable coverage for the uninsured with
pre-existing conditions,” “access to quality care for vulnerable populations,”
“no pre-existing coverage exclusions for children,” “re-insurance for retiree
health benefit plans,” “closing the coverage gap in the Medicare (Part D) Drug
Benefit,” “small business tax credits,” “ensuring value for premium payments,”
protection of “patients’ choice of doctors,” “prohibiting insurers from
requiring prior authorization before” a “woman sees an ob-gyn,” “ensuring access
to emergency care,” “extension of dependent coverage for young adults,”
“coverage of prevention and wellness benefits”; “free, annual wellness visit”
for Medicare beneficiaries,” a prohibition on “insurers from imposing lifetime
limits on benefits,” “restricted annual limits on coverage,” and prohibiting
“insurers from rescinding insurance when claims are filed,” among other
immediate benefits.

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