Federal judge blocks rule that would have required abortion care to be billed separately

A federal judge in Maryland blocked a Trump administration rule requiring insurance companies that cover abortion to send a separate bill for those services. Although abortion cannot be paid for using federal dollars, the Affordable Care Act allows insurers to cover the procedure as long as they collect separate payment. In creating the new rules, which were to be in effect at the end of August, the Trump administration said separate billing would align with the intent of the ACA. But in announcing her decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake negated this argument, saying the new rules don't address how separate payment ought to be collected, which was open-ended under the ACA. She also said the new rules create "unreasonable barriers" to health care, since people would have to keep track of separate bills that could cause confusion.