Insurance plans in the ACA marketplace don’t often provide abortion coverage

A new report from the advocacy organization National Health Law Program finds that abortion care is not covered under many insurance plans offered through the Affordable Care Act marketplace even in states where the procedure isn’t restricted in some way. Here’s more: 

• Abortion coverage: 17 of the 24 states where abortion coverage isn’t prohibited have insurers on the ACA marketplace who offer insurance coverage for the procedure, but most states only have one or two such insurers. 
• Definitions: Many plans didn’t explicitly define abortion coverage under the list of services offered, which the report authors say could have confused patients about whether they could seek out the procedure. 
• A caveat: The report only looked at plans in 2017 and 2018, and several states have enacted abortion laws since.