Testimony by Michael J. O'Dea
S.B. 645-647 Eliminating Abortion Coverage From Health Insurance
October 20, 1999

 Thank you for the opportunity to testify before this joint committee hearing, to review Senate Bill No. 645. introduced  by Senators Jaye, Hammerstrom, Hoffman, Dunaskiss, Mc Cotter, Shugars, Emmons, Gougeon, Hart, Miller, and Koivisto. First, I want to congratulate all our legislators for being the leaders in removing abortion from all insurance plans and requiring a separate rider for those who want to exercise their legal right to purchase coverage for abortion. I am here today representing myself and the citizens of this great state of Michigan.

The purpose of my testimony is threefold: 1) to explain why I am testifying today, 2)  to reinforce to this committee the impact that this legislation will have on restoring three basic freedoms to the citizens of Michigan and 3) to express the urgency to pass this legislation so that respect for human life, particularly the preborn, is restored in the insurance industry.

 I am Michael O'Dea of Senator Peter's home district in Southfield, MI.  I am married and father of seven children, of which five are adopted. I am here to represent my family and other families here in the state of Michigan.  I have been in the trenches in sales, sales management and consulting in the health care industry for over 29 years, the last 12 years as a consultant and management resource on health insurance matters. I also founded and have been involved with Mother & Unborn Baby Care, a non-profit organization, that assists mothers faced with a crisis pregnancy.  This particular issue of abortion free insurance became an issue to me back in 1987 when I was counseling a pregnant teenager and her mother at Mother and Unborn Baby Care (our pregnancy help center).  I asked the mother of this pregnant teenager if her daughter was going to have an abortion because they lacked finances. The mother responded, "Whether she has the baby or aborts it, my insurance with Blue Care Network will pay". This hit me like a ton of bricks. Since I also was insured by the same company, I no longer wanted to subsidize the killing of God's innocent children.  So began my journey to change the healthcare culture and why I am here today to support this very needed legislation.

 The three fundamental freedoms that are at stake with this bill are: 1) freedom of choice not to subsidize the killing of innocent preborn children, 2) freedom of information –  Michigan citizens, most for the first time will see that their insurance premiums are paying for a procedure that kills rather than heals, this is very basic information that has been hidden from them and they have the right to know, and   3) freedom of religion – health care providers, employers, employees and individuals will know longer be manipulated into believing that they have to subsidize killing because abortion is legal.  Just because it is legal, does not mean that Michigan citizens have to subsidize a procedure so profoundly evil. This new abortion free insurance bill will give the citizens of this great state the religious freedoms that our founding fathers set out to guarantee in the Declaration of Independence. Men and women have fought and died to protect this freedom and I applaud you for your efforts to pass this legislation.

 I agree that patient/physician confidentiality in healthcare is extremely important, but the confidentiality that allows health care providers to kill innocent children is bazaar. According to Allen Guttmacher Institute (AGI), in their 1993 health care reform report

 "Uneven and Unequal Insurance Coverage and Reproductive Health Services" at least two-thirds of all health plans covered abortion services. With the expansion of HMOs since 1993, more and more employers were offer HMOs and POS networks where coverage for abortion is usually covered.

 This same study reported that 71% of HMOs allowed confidential reproductive services for spouse and non-spouse dependents 18 and over, and 64% for non-spouse dependents under 18.  The health care plan designers allow a wife not to inform her husband when she is pregnant and pay for someone to kill his child. They also allow a teenager not to inform her mother and father when she is pregnant and will pay for the killing of their grandchild.  Great effort has been made by prolife, profamily and Christian organizations to keep government money from killing innocent preborn babies, but up until this legislation very little effort has been made to keep money from the private sector's killing of our children.

 The accountability measures in this bill are also to be applauded because of the fact that most health plans are now providing abortion coverage and a great effort has been made to keep this information confidential by those administrating these plans.

 In most fully insured managed care plans; abortion is routinely covered.  In fact, I do not know of any in Michigan that do not.

 In self-insured health plans, employers are protected by ERISSA and will not be subject to this bill. However, my experience indicates that many self-insured employers are deceived into paying for abortion by boilerplate language provided by the insurance provider that automatically includes abortion.  If an employer does not have language in their Plan Design that does not clearly spell out that abortion is excluded from payment, like this bill has done, employers will pay for abortion.  In most cases, this information is kept confidential, so only the provider, the plan administrator and the claims processor have the knowledge that an abortion is paid for.   I am convinced when this legislation passes it will indirectly effect self insured plans because the boilerplate language given to employers will not include abortion.

 Because abortion is legal, making available a rider for those who want to protect themselves for an unexpected abortion, at a later date, is a practical insurance solution.  It is what insurance is all about.  It is also consistent with the whole idea of freedom of choice.  Many insurance companies, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, already provide employers and employees with riders in their voluntary benefit programs. This is nothing knew to the insurance industry.

 It is clear that the majority of Michigan citizens have been kept in the dark about abortion being included in their health plan.  With the passage of this abortion free insurance legislation, the few special interest groups that have imposed their personal views on the majority will no longer be able to discriminate against Michigan citizens.  Thank God for the great system of government we have in this country, and thank God for the wonderful leadership here in the Michigan State Senate.

Contact Webmaster with comments or questions regarding this site. 
© Copyright, Christus Meduicus, All rights reserved.