The Obama administration on Friday proposed another compromise that would exempt religious groups and universities from having to include contraception coverage while allowing workers and students to get birth control for free.
The administration announced the proposed rule in an attempt to quell a backlash against the requirement included in the Affordable Care Act that employers provide contraception coverage with no co-pays or shared costs. The provision had spurred dozens of lawsuits.
The proposed rule expands the exemption for churches and other houses of worship to include nonprofit organizations and universities, who would “self-certify” that they object to the contraception coverage on religious grounds.
Religious groups “won’t have to arrange, contract, refer, pay for coverage for these services for their employees or students,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Director of Policy and Regulation at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told reporters on a conference call Friday afternoon. “At the same time…, women will have free coverage.”
The proposed regulation creates a barrier between religious groups and contraception coverage, through insurers or a third party administrator. Employees or students who want the free coverage would receive it through individual health insurance policies for no extra cost.
The rule also proposes a new definition of “religious employers” and simplifies the definition of churches and houses of worship using the Internal Revenue Service tax code.
Under the original rule, only those religious groups which primarily employ and serve people of their own faith — such as churches — were exempt. But other religiously affiliated groups, such as church-affiliated universities and hospitals, were excluded.
Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and religious charities lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption in the law.
The concession highlights the White House’s two-year struggle to balance a commitment to women’s health care with the need to protect religious liberty. The contraception plan became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign and Obama a year ago announced he would provide a way out for groups with religious objections, a concession especially to Roman Catholic bishops who had supported Obama in his first shot at the White House.
The contraception coverage became a key component of a national debate about women’s issues. Pro-choice and women’s advocates praised the contraception requirement while anti-abortion and religious groups decried it as an infringement of religious freedom.
Administration officials said the proposed rule was based on feedback from the religious groups but early reaction to the compromise was mixed.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a noncommittal statement saying he welcomed the opportunity to study the new proposed regulation. The Archdiocese of Palm Beach issued a similar statement and said, “it is very early in the review process to comment further.”
The proposed rule includes a complicated arrangement to finance contraceptive coverage for employees of religious organizations that “self-insure,” or provide their own insurance coverage. The costs for the coverage would be offset by insurers or third-party administrators paying higher “user fees” to participate in the new online markets, or “exchanges, run by the federal government. Administration officials stressed that no taxpayer or government funds would be used to subsidize the mandate.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an author and faculty member at Jesuit-affiliated Georgetown University, said the Obama administration “bent over backwards” to appease churches and other religious organizations.
“It’s complicated. But it’s a very creative way of making sure that people who work for these institutions still get their contraception for free but the institutions don’t have anything to do with it. They don’t pay for it. They don’t handle it. I think that’s pretty good,” Reese said.
Religious nonprofits and secular for-profit businesses, including Hobby Lobby, have filed more than 40 lawsuits against the Obama administration claiming the mandate violates their religious beliefs.
As expected, the proposed rule does not have any impact on for-profit employers, which will still have to provide free contraceptive coverage despite religious objections. About 10 businesses have obtained temporary injunctions against the regulation while their cases move through the courts.
“Today’s phony compromise from Health and Human Services only serves to illustrate the problem with Obamacare,” Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest said in a statement. “The Obama Administration is trying to gerrymander the regulations but continues to leave most Americans without their constitutional freedoms.
But, Reese said, the rule may aid the Obama administration in lawsuits filed by nonprofit religious groups such as universities, hospitals and Roman Catholics, including the Archdiocese of Miami-Dade.
“There was not political support for exempting religious institutions and certainly not private institutions from providing this. So I think the Obama administration has been quite generous in responding to the concerns,” he said.
The proposed rule also leaves uncertainty about emergency contraception such as Ella and Plan B One-Step, which some religious groups consider abortion, said Reece.
“So the two issues that we’re still going to fight over are: will there be an exemption for profit-making corporations and what is a contraceptive and what isn’t. And that second fight has been going on for years even before the Affordable Care Act,” he said.
The proposed rule is now subject to a 60-day public comment period and the mandate takes effect for religious nonprofits in August.
The New York Times News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The administration announced the proposed rule in an attempt to quell a backlash against the requirement included in the Affordable Care Act that employers provide contraception coverage with no co-pays or shared costs. The provision had spurred dozens of lawsuits.
The proposed rule expands the exemption for churches and other houses of worship to include nonprofit organizations and universities, who would “self-certify” that they object to the contraception coverage on religious grounds.
Religious groups “won’t have to arrange, contract, refer, pay for coverage for these services for their employees or students,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Director of Policy and Regulation at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight Chiquita Brooks-LaSure told reporters on a conference call Friday afternoon. “At the same time…, women will have free coverage.”
The proposed regulation creates a barrier between religious groups and contraception coverage, through insurers or a third party administrator. Employees or students who want the free coverage would receive it through individual health insurance policies for no extra cost.
The rule also proposes a new definition of “religious employers” and simplifies the definition of churches and houses of worship using the Internal Revenue Service tax code.
Under the original rule, only those religious groups which primarily employ and serve people of their own faith — such as churches — were exempt. But other religiously affiliated groups, such as church-affiliated universities and hospitals, were excluded.
Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and religious charities lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption in the law.
The concession highlights the White House’s two-year struggle to balance a commitment to women’s health care with the need to protect religious liberty. The contraception plan became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign and Obama a year ago announced he would provide a way out for groups with religious objections, a concession especially to Roman Catholic bishops who had supported Obama in his first shot at the White House.
The contraception coverage became a key component of a national debate about women’s issues. Pro-choice and women’s advocates praised the contraception requirement while anti-abortion and religious groups decried it as an infringement of religious freedom.
Administration officials said the proposed rule was based on feedback from the religious groups but early reaction to the compromise was mixed.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a noncommittal statement saying he welcomed the opportunity to study the new proposed regulation. The Archdiocese of Palm Beach issued a similar statement and said, “it is very early in the review process to comment further.”
The proposed rule includes a complicated arrangement to finance contraceptive coverage for employees of religious organizations that “self-insure,” or provide their own insurance coverage. The costs for the coverage would be offset by insurers or third-party administrators paying higher “user fees” to participate in the new online markets, or “exchanges, run by the federal government. Administration officials stressed that no taxpayer or government funds would be used to subsidize the mandate.
The Rev. Thomas Reese, an author and faculty member at Jesuit-affiliated Georgetown University, said the Obama administration “bent over backwards” to appease churches and other religious organizations.
“It’s complicated. But it’s a very creative way of making sure that people who work for these institutions still get their contraception for free but the institutions don’t have anything to do with it. They don’t pay for it. They don’t handle it. I think that’s pretty good,” Reese said.
Religious nonprofits and secular for-profit businesses, including Hobby Lobby, have filed more than 40 lawsuits against the Obama administration claiming the mandate violates their religious beliefs.
As expected, the proposed rule does not have any impact on for-profit employers, which will still have to provide free contraceptive coverage despite religious objections. About 10 businesses have obtained temporary injunctions against the regulation while their cases move through the courts.
“Today’s phony compromise from Health and Human Services only serves to illustrate the problem with Obamacare,” Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest said in a statement. “The Obama Administration is trying to gerrymander the regulations but continues to leave most Americans without their constitutional freedoms.
But, Reese said, the rule may aid the Obama administration in lawsuits filed by nonprofit religious groups such as universities, hospitals and Roman Catholics, including the Archdiocese of Miami-Dade.
“There was not political support for exempting religious institutions and certainly not private institutions from providing this. So I think the Obama administration has been quite generous in responding to the concerns,” he said.
The proposed rule also leaves uncertainty about emergency contraception such as Ella and Plan B One-Step, which some religious groups consider abortion, said Reece.
“So the two issues that we’re still going to fight over are: will there be an exemption for profit-making corporations and what is a contraceptive and what isn’t. And that second fight has been going on for years even before the Affordable Care Act,” he said.
The proposed rule is now subject to a 60-day public comment period and the mandate takes effect for religious nonprofits in August.
The New York Times News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this story.