Obama Administration: Religious Employers Must Pay for the Pill

[cbayer]

Good for the Obama administration

http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/21/obama-administration-religious-employers-must-pay-for-the-pill/




Many church-affiliated institutions will have to cover free birth control for employees, the Obama administration announced Friday in an election-year move that outraged religious groups, fueling a national debate about the reach of government.

In a concession, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said nonprofit institutions such as church-affiliated hospitals, colleges and social service agencies will have one additional year to comply with the requirement, issued in regulations under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

“I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between respecting religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services,” Sebelius said in a statement.

Yet the concession was unlikely to stop a determined effort by opponents to block or overturn the rule. If they fail, some predicted that religious employers would simply drop coverage for their workers, opting instead to pay fines to the federal government under the health care law.

Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/21/obama-administration-religious-employers-must-pay-for-the-pill/#ixzz1k7VNcech

[PassingFair]

1. Since my 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with PCOS...I've had to pay a pretty price for them.

These pills, in her case, were not for "preventative" purposes (not that THAT should matter)
but I have had to pay $50/month (partially defrayed by Bayer, the manufacturer), without my
insurance company footing ANY of the bill, because it's "birth control".

I'm glad this is finally being tackled.

Now they should press Catholic hospitals to stop
making decisions based religion, or stop funding
them.

[cbayer]

2. Agree. And it's not just the Catholic hospitals with which we have a problem.

In the New Orleans area, none of the community hospitals would provide abortions, even in the case of medical necessity to save the life of the mother. Anyway, that's a whole other story.

I think this is a great move and am hopeful that we can defeat any pushback from the repubs.