Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Will the Catholic Church have to cover contraceptives?
I'm wondering if the new mandatory contraceptive coverage for health insurance plans creates even starker requirements than I contemplated in my earlier post. The California and Massachusetts statutes mandating contraceptive coverage included exemptions for religious organizations, but the exemptions weren't broad enough to cover Catholic Charities. If the new health care law mandates coverage of contraceptives for all health insurance plans not "grandfathered" under the law (i.e., pre-existing plans with no major changes), then won't every employer, including any Catholic Archdiocese, eventually be covering contraceptives? Is there any mechanism by which to opt out? Doesn't the health care law apply to self-insured plans as well? I hope that my concerns are misplaced -- could someone identify the path by which a church could avoid covering contraceptives five years from now?
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/07/will-the-catholic-church-have-to-cover-contraceptives.html
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Rob, thank you for these two postings dealing with the conscience issue, Catholic Charities, and the Church. Since there is sufficient evidence from the matter involving the Church and Catholic Charities getting out of adoption services in various states, I think the pattern is clear regarding this question as well. We just have to connect the dots to see where this will go, but the pattern appears to be clear. I pray that the pressure not be put on the Church to do that which is morally offensive; yet, we know that the Church has been pressured throughout her history on various matters of public policy. Let us pray for her and her members that they remain faithful. RJA sj