New York

Names of Insurance Carriers and Their Elective-Abortion Coverage:

Highmark BlueShield of Western NY (20): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Highmark BlueShield of Northeastern NY (12): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Capital District Physicians Health Plan (CDPHP) (27): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Emblem Health/Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York (9): All plans cover elective abortion (four 2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents do not include abortion coverage information; however, the state mandates abortion coverage as an “essential health benefit”).
HealthPlus Empire BlueCross BlueShield Health Plus (Medical Upstate)(9): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
HealthPlus Empire BlueCross Health Plus (Medical Downstate)(9): All plans cover elective abortion (2021 plan documents)
Excellus BlueCross Blue Shield: (17): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Fidelis Care (11): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage plan documents do not include abortion coverage information; however, abortion coverage is confirmed in the 2022 Subscriber Contracts).
Healthfirst New York (9): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Independent Health (13): All plans cover elective abortion. (2022 plan documents).
MetroPlus Health Plan (17): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents do not include elective abortion coverage information; however, the state mandates abortion coverage as an “essential health benefit.”)
MVP Health Plan (29): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage documents do not include abortion coverage information; however, the state mandates abortion coverage as an “essential health benefit”).
United Healthcare of New York, Inc. (13): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Oscar Insurance Corporation (17): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).
Univera Healthcare (19): All plans cover elective abortion (2022 plan documents).

Summary: For 2022, there are 15 health insurance carriers offering 231 Individual and Family plans on the New York State of Health marketplace.

In 2022, just as in 2021, 2020 and 2019, 100% of the plans offered on the New York State of Health marketplace cover elective abortion due to the state abortion insurance mandate requiring its coverage in health plans offered in the state.

Several carriers did not disclose the abortion coverage terms on 2022 Summary of Benefits and Coverage plan documents, as required by federal regulations, but per state requirements are required to cover abortion on exchange plans.

According to the 2020 Qualified Health Plan (QHP) Essential Benefits document provided by the New York State of Health exchange as part of its invitation to insurance carriers, “elective termination of pregnancy” is listed as an essential benefit with a limit of one “treatment” per year.

In 2018, 96% of plans on the marketplace covered elective abortion. In 2017, New York had 8 Multi-State Plans (MSPs), all of which excluded elective abortion. There are no longer any MSPs offered in New York.

*Note: New York currently has an abortion coverage mandate in effect. In January 2017, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new state regulatory actions to mandate that all “insurance policies that provide hospital, surgical, or medical expense coverage are required to include coverage for abortions that are medically necessary” with a very narrow exemption for a subset of “religious employers and qualified religious organization employers.” The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) certified these regulations on June 5, 2017.

These regulations follow a 2016 lawsuit against the NYDFS brought by 13 groups including Christian churches, Catholic Charities agencies, a privately held organization and an employee of a religious organization. The complaint was in response to statewide approved health insurance “model language” on abortion coverage, which had the effect of forcing the groups to cover abortions unbeknownst to them. The lawsuit reads: “Plaintiffs were caught unawares… when upon objecting to the ‘Model Language’ Abortion Mandate, they were informed that they had been separately covering abortions under the service category of ‘medically necessary’ surgery.”

Fidelis Care, a faith-based health plan and the insurance company with the largest market share of enrollees in 2017, states on its website that it excludes abortion from plans; however, in September 2017, Centene, a Fortune 100 corporation, announced it would be acquiring Fidelis Care, with a closing date sometime in the first quarter of 2018. Centene had also announced it agreed to keep in place Fidelis Care’s exclusion of abortion coverage for one year following the purchase. Centene is not a religious employer that would qualify for the New York abortion mandate exemption. We confirmed with Fidelis representatives that all plans offered on the marketplace in 2019 include coverage for “elective abortions for one (1) procedure per Member, per Plan Year.” This elective abortion coverage continues for the 2021 enrollment year.

Feel free to email us at info@obamacareabortion.com with any concerns or additional information you may have regarding New York’s lack of abortion-free healthcare options.

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Exchange is part of the Federally-Facilitated Marketplace (F) or State-Run (S): S

Website: https://nystateofhealth.ny.gov/

State Exchange Elective Abortion Opt-Out: No

Number of 2022 Insurance Carriers: 15

Total Number of Plans: 231

Number of Plans that Cover Elective Abortion: 231
Number of Plans that Do Not Cover Elective Abortion: 0
Number of Plans with Unknown Coverage: 0

Key:

Red= Covers elective abortion

Orange= Some plans cover elective abortion/Unknown

Green= Does not cover elective abortion

*Bold denotes that this Insurance Carrier is new to the 2022 Marketplace

NEW YORK NEWS

General news regarding abortion coverage in Obamacare can be found here.

Healthinsurance.org: New York health insurance marketplace: history and news of the state’s exchange (November 16, 2021)