LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A House panel on Thursday overwhelmingly approved legislation to overhaul Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, leaving out anti-abortion provisions that torpedoed an earlier effort to change the status of the state's largest health insurer.
The 11-0 votes signaled — at least for now — that one of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder's top legislative priorities could reach his desk without language that led him to veto similar legislation in late December. The Senate OK'd the new Blue Cross bills in late January.
House Republicans last year tried to prevent insurance plans from covering elective abortions unless women bought a supplemental policy. Snyder was OK with doing that for health plans in a government-sponsored insurance marketplace required under the federal health care law, but he objected to extending it to private plans. He also vetoed the measure because rape, incest and the health of the woman were not included in the definition of elective abortions.
An amendment to bar insurance coverage for abortion — with exceptions for rape, incest and a woman's health — was circulated on Wednesday. Yet no House Insurance Committee members proposed it before Thursday's vote.
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