Hearing Aids Not Covered by Certain Obamacare Plans in D.C. -- but Elective Abortion Is

Several individual plans offered through the Obamacare health insurance exchange in Washington, D.C., cover elective abortions, but not basic things like hearing aids or routine foot or eye care.

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The “Healthy Blue PPO $1500,” for example, offers coverage for abortions for non-medical reasons, but fails to offer coverage for several services many would deem medically necessary, including bariatric surgery and infertility treatment, National Review Online's Betsy Woodruff reported, citing a section titled “Excluded Services & Other Covered Services" found on the D.C. exchange website.

Another plan, "CD BChoice HSA Br 6000," includes elective-abortion coverage but excludes coverage for hearing aids and infertility treatment, the NRO reported.

The Kaiser Permanente "KP DC Bronze 4500/50/HSA/Dental/PedDental" covers elective abortion but not routine foot care, hearing aids and infertility treatment, the report said. Similarly, the "KP DC 5000/30%/HSA/Dental/PedDental" covers elective abortion, but not hearing aids or infertility care.

Aetna plans and multi-state plans offered by the Office of Personnel Management and Blue Cross Blue Shield that are available in D.C. do not offer coverage for elective abortion, according to Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council.

However, all other plans in the District of Columbia do over abortion coverage.

A spokesperson for the D.C. Obamacare exchange told Higgins in October that exchange plans had to cover abortions because it was an “essential benefit.” The exchange later retracted this statement after it was shown to be incorrect (the Affordable Care Act itself says abortion is a "non-essential" benefit).

Reports that certain exchange plans in the District fail to cover what many would consider to be basic medical services come at a time when supporters of the Affordable Care Act rail against private health insurance plans for not being “comprehensive” enough.

A spokesperson for the D.C. health care exchange did not immediately respond to TheBlaze's request for comment.

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This article has been updated.

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