Can anyone provide a link to reasonably reliable info regarding the percentage (or ratio) of abortions performed on medically insured vs. uninsured women, specifically in the US?
I have been searching all day for a simple breakdown of this and have found nothing specific. I assume a woman is more likely to get an abortion if she doesn’t have the insurance to cover labor & delivery, but have no reliable evidence to correlate this.
The most relevant stats I can find break down abortion percentages by poverty level, and those showing abortion rates in countries with universal insurance compared to the US, but these figures don’t specifically answer my question. Thanks in advance.
This is my first post on the SDMB. This message board is outstanding, especially the “Great Debates” section. I thought reasonable debate on the internet was long dead. Thanks to everyone involved with this MB.
I would think that most women going to the abortion clinic would not be claiming that on their insurance, even if they are insured.
For that reason, I doubt that such statistics exist (insured vs. non-insured) for the U.S.
I did find some related information on WHO’s website. Their data shows that:
The main point being that the number of abortions performed doesn’t seem to be influenced by whether it is legal or illegal. From that, I would tend to conclude that the number of abortions performed doesn’t have much to do with whether the woman has health insurance or not.
Part of the problem is that many, perhaps even most, medical insurance companies don’t cover abortions. It’s one of the things that I check on when selecting a company, because I’d prefer to use one that does offer abortion coverage, even though I’ll never need it.
That’s new to me. It’s a medical procedure - D&C or dilation and curettage. I had that procedure for reasons other than pregnancy termination and it was certainly covered at the time – over 40 years ago.
I think (am not sure) that such procedures are covered when medically necessary.
An elective abortion to terminate a pregnancy is something else and generally not covered by insurance (despite the political issues insurance rarely covers elective procedures).
From a strictly money perspective (ignoring any moral arguments for the moment) it is cheaper for an insurance company to pay for an abortion than pay for the woman’s pregnancy. However, the insurance companies know a woman may want to have (say) three kids in her life and an abortion now does not mean she will not have kids later. As such they are still on the hook for pregnancy related costs eventually and see no reason to pay for abortions. There is little upside for them to pay for it.
I swear, we’re practically begging for doctors and patients to lie or resort to euphemisms like those old (abortifacient) tonics sold to “restore a woman’s flow”.
On a strictly money basis the woman will becoming woman and child, moving her from a possible single covered person to a family, which is more money for insurance.
It also may be that your insurance plan covers it but it requires a lot of hoop-jumping to get it. According to the benefit summary my plan covers 1 elective abortion per calendar year but you must use an in network provider and get a referral from your OB/GYN if they don’t perform them and the procedure must be pre-approved by the carrier. There are a lot of women who are already ashamed and frightened just because they are looking for an abortion and calling their insurance company to find out what providers in their network would perform one is too much for them so they would rather just pay out of pocket for a clinic and avoid having that discussion with their insurance company.
…and I’d bet we have an awful lot of women who google “will insurance cover an abortion” and get a lot of hits that say “no”, rather than checking with her insurance company. Then she quietly pays to have the abortion herself.
When I was looking for actual numbers, I found a lot more sites saying insurance wouldn’t cover it than sites saying some do.
Yeah, but having an abortion has no bearing on whether a woman will bear children in the future. The woman does not want to be pregnant now.
Basically, the abortion is merely a cost to the insurance company. If the woman chooses to have children the insurance company will get its premiums then.
Your first point does seem to be the main reason the data I’m searching for can’t be found. Anyone would claim L&D on insurance of course, but if you can get an abortion for $500 and are ashamed to be getting one, it may be worth it not to claim.
I think the data that shows abortion rates by poverty level are the closest I can find. Typically, poor people lack insurance.
Thanks for the links, BTW.
I didn’t mean to start a debate, I can see this thread getting moved soon
Of course, don’t the bottom-end poor get completely covered by US Medicare anyway - so if there is a correlation, it would be indicated by a higher rate of abortion for people actually earning enough to not be covered by Medicare, but too poor to afford real insurance?
This procedure is usually covered if it’s not done to abort. If the reason that the procedure is done is to terminate a pregnancy, then it’s classified as an abortion, and suddenly it’s not covered.
Medicare is for those over 65, and very few women get pregnant at that age.
Generally, there is no Medicaid coverage available for those women who are on it.
You’re thinking too much about this. An abortion is a relatively inexpensive procedure, whether ‘voluntary’ (insurance jargon) or ‘medically necessary’, especially when compared to other medical procedures. As such, the insurance company doesn’t really care all that much if you have one performed or not. This is nickle and dime stuff, compared to big ticket items like inpatient surgery or the more expensive medical imaging (MRI, etc).
As far as coverage, it is more commonly covered through group insurance than in the individual market, due to anti-selective issues.
