P
PrayHarder
Guest
Over the weekend I discussed with my family this whole HHS mandate in order to get a better idea of what is happening. I wanted to know how things were, how things are, and where we are going. I thought it would be valuable to share what I learned with a broader audience since mapping this whole thing out in my mind really clarified things.
Before Obamacare passed, employers could decide whether or not they wanted to provide healthcare for their employees. Furthermore, they could decided what level of coverage they wanted to provide. Healthcare insurance companies provide different levels of coverage for different rates and so an employer could choose a plan that would suite them best or not choose any coverage at all.
Obamacare passes. Now it is required that employers provide healthcare to their employees. Not only that, but they have to provide a certain level of coverage as specified in the law (but no one could really figure out what was prescribed in the law because it was 2000 pages of legal mumbo jumbo). However, Health and Human Services says that it will defer a decision on what to do for religious organizations regarding services that might be against their conscience.
This past January, HHS says that all employers must provide contraception coverage. They make an exemption for religious institutions, but it’s a very narrow exemption that doesn’t cover many employers that have moral objects. So you have Obamacare saying employers must provide coverage and that coverage must include contraception. And like healthcare insurance before Obamacare, that coverage would be paid by the employer.
After a lot of outrage, Obama gives a speach saying that the employer would not have to pay for the contraception coverage, but that insurance companies must give it away for free. But employers are still bound by the law to provide health insurance that includes contraception. They just aren’t directly paying for it. As many Catholic leaders have pointed out, that is still morally unacceptable. And one other note – just because Obama mentions this in a press conference doesn’t make it the law. The original mandate, as it was written, still stands. Obama’s speach a week ago has not changed anything from a legal standpoint. He might as well have talked about what he had for dinner as that would have had the same affect.
So that is the series of events the best I can make of it.
Before Obamacare passed, employers could decide whether or not they wanted to provide healthcare for their employees. Furthermore, they could decided what level of coverage they wanted to provide. Healthcare insurance companies provide different levels of coverage for different rates and so an employer could choose a plan that would suite them best or not choose any coverage at all.
Obamacare passes. Now it is required that employers provide healthcare to their employees. Not only that, but they have to provide a certain level of coverage as specified in the law (but no one could really figure out what was prescribed in the law because it was 2000 pages of legal mumbo jumbo). However, Health and Human Services says that it will defer a decision on what to do for religious organizations regarding services that might be against their conscience.
This past January, HHS says that all employers must provide contraception coverage. They make an exemption for religious institutions, but it’s a very narrow exemption that doesn’t cover many employers that have moral objects. So you have Obamacare saying employers must provide coverage and that coverage must include contraception. And like healthcare insurance before Obamacare, that coverage would be paid by the employer.
After a lot of outrage, Obama gives a speach saying that the employer would not have to pay for the contraception coverage, but that insurance companies must give it away for free. But employers are still bound by the law to provide health insurance that includes contraception. They just aren’t directly paying for it. As many Catholic leaders have pointed out, that is still morally unacceptable. And one other note – just because Obama mentions this in a press conference doesn’t make it the law. The original mandate, as it was written, still stands. Obama’s speach a week ago has not changed anything from a legal standpoint. He might as well have talked about what he had for dinner as that would have had the same affect.
So that is the series of events the best I can make of it.