HHS to Block $200 Million in Medicaid Funding to California in Response to Abortion Coverage Mandate

Roger Severino, Office of Civil Rights Director
at the Department of Health and Human Services

Last Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it would be withholding $200 million in federal Medicaid funding from California for illegally mandating that all health care plans cover abortions.

Unless California starts complying with the Weldon Amendment, which bans state and local governments from discriminating against entities that don't pay for abortions, the state will withhold $200 million per quarter starting on Jan. 1, 2020.

The OCR found California in violation of the amendment on January 24, 2020. Health plan issuers in the state were being forced to fully cover the cost of all abortions or be banned by California from issuing any insurance plans there. The HHS warned California at that time that it would face consequences unless it complied, but has refused to do so for 11 months now.

“Entities that receive HHS funds should think twice before flouting federal law and refusing to come into compliance. As a result of our actions today, California will be losing $200 million in federal funds per quarter […],” said Roger Severino, OCR Director. “Whatever one thinks of the legality of abortion, no one should be punished for declining to pay for or assist in the taking of human life.”

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