Obama’s New Contraceptive Coverage Policy Is Still Not Good Enough For Religious Employers
In the wake of June’s Hobby Lobby supreme court decision, the Obama administration has announced new measures for contraceptive coverage policy that will allow religious nonprofits and some companies to opt out of paying for contraceptive coverage for it’s female employees while still allowing those employees access to this coverage directly through their insurance company. This means the employer is not actually paying for contraceptives and you would think this would be a good compromise. Apparently, it is not good enough for religious employers, some of which will not approve of any policy where they feel they are complicit in providing coverage that they feel is wrong and immoral.
From CBS news:
Effective immediately, the U.S. will begin allowing faith-affiliated charities, colleges and hospitals to notify the government – rather than their insurers – that they object to birth control on religious grounds. Then the government will instruct a nonprofit’s insurer or third-party administrators to take on the responsibility of paying for the birth control, at no cost to the employer.
Sounds good, right? Wrong. These nonprofits and companies that have “sincerely held” religious beliefs still object. The provision would allow them to file a form that says they will not directly pay for the contraceptive coverage but the insurance company still can and some of these nonprofits and companies feel that it is making a deal with the devil.
The latest proposals, which were expected to be officially released later Friday, will likely run into the same objections, because they still enable employees to receive contraception at no extra charge through their health plans – one of a number of preventive services required under Mr. Obama’s health care law.
I just do not understand where these religious nonprofits and companies are coming from. I get that they have their beliefs and they feel they are complicit in “evil” by allowing their employees to have contraception covered in any fashion but why can’t they pull their heads out of their asses and realize that they cannot expect all of their employees to share their beliefs? Not to mention, the consequences of those employees having babies instead of cheaply preventing them. Doesn’t that cost them a whole lot more in the long run? To me, it seems that they are being discriminatory as they are making it hard for a woman who does not share their religious beliefs to want to work for them knowing that she will need to pay out-of-pocket for her birth control rather than having her insurance cover it.
The bottom line is, if the government allows companies to prize their religious beliefs over the basic healthcare needs of their female employees, then what will be next? What happened to separation of church and state? I cannot understand why any company, religious or not, can cherry-pick what parts of a healthcare plan they will cover and they won’t. I am not sure why they can’t just worry about themselves and not be concerned with the personal healthcare decisions of their employees. As long as they themselves are doing what their religious beliefs dictate why does it matter what other people do? I guess my only hope is that by the time my daughter is looking for employment, this kind of practice will be dead and buried. A company of any kind should not be allowed to dictate what kind of health coverage is covered for their employees. It is quite simply none of their business.
(Image: Doruk Sikman/Shutterstock)
