Federal health officials are once again tweaking the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, making it easier for employers to opt out of paying for birth control, while still providing a way for workers to get contraception for free.
In an interim final rule released by the Department of Health & Human Services on Aug. 22, nonprofit religious organizations, including Catholic hospitals, will no longer be required to notify their insurance companies that they have a religious objection to providing contraceptive services. Instead, they will notify officials at HHS in writing about their religious objection, and HHS and the U.S. Department of Labor will notify insurers and third-party administrators.
Employees will then receive separate coverage for contraceptive services with no cost to the employee or employer, according to HHS.
The change seeks to address objections from nonprofit religious employers who said the previous workaround still made them a party to providing contraceptives and therefore violated their religious beliefs.
The government is also looking to extend the revised opt-out process to closely held for-profit companies who have religious objections to providing birth control coverage, such as the Hobby Lobby Stores, which recently won an exemption from the contraception mandate from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Under a proposed rule also released on Aug. 22, HHS outlined a procedure that would require third-party insurers to take on the cost of contraception coverage in cases where a closely held for-profit employer had a religious objection.
"Women across the country deserve access to recommended preventive services that are important to their health, no matter where they work," Sylvia M. Burwell, HHS Secretary, said in a statement. "Today’s announcement reinforces our commitment to providing women with access to coverage for contraception, while respecting religious considerations raised by nonprofit organizations and closely held for-profit companies."
But the newest regulatory changes were criticized by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is opposed to the ACA’s contraception mandate.
"We note with disappointment that the regulations would not broaden the ‘religious employer’ exemption to encompass all employers with sincerely held religious objections to the mandate. Instead, the regulations would only modify the ‘accommodation,’ under which the mandate still applies and still requires provision of the objectionable coverage," Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement.
And by extending the changes to closely held for-profit employers that were exempted by the recent Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision, the HHS proposal actually reduces the "scope of religious freedom," Archbishop Kurtz said.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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