C
catharina
Guest
foxnews.com/us/2011/08/07/religious-groups-object-to-covering-birth-control-1817427242/
"WASHINGTON – They defied the bishops to support President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed the law may force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees.
A provision in the law expanded preventive health-care benefits for women, and the administration said last week that must include birth control with no copays. The Catholic Health Association says a proposed conscience exemption is so narrowly written it would apply only to houses of worship. Some other religious-based organizations agree.
…
The administration’s proposed exemption defines a religious employer as one whose purpose is to instill religious values, which primarily employs and serves people who share its religious tenets, and which is nonprofit.
Three of those four tests don’t work for Catholic hospitals and their 640,000 employees, said Keehan. “Catholic hospitals have never discriminated about employment,” she explained. Likewise, the 5.6 million patients they admit annually can be of any religious faith, or none. And while patients might see a crucifix, they’re not going to get a sermon.
It’s not just Catholic hospitals that would be ineligible for an exemption, said Jeanne Monahan, a policy expert at the conservative Family Research Council. “Any religious group that is not focused on proselytizing will not receive this exemption,” she said. “Educational institutions, groups that are focused on serving the homeless, feeding the hungry, they won’t receive it.”
Law professor Nicholas Cafardi of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, an expert on tax exempt organizations, said he agrees the administration’s current definition is too narrow. He suggested a more liberal standard employed in the federal tax code might be part of a compromise. Duquesne is a Catholic institution.
In the critical final stages of the congressional health care debate last year, Catholic hospitals broke with the bishops to support passage of the legislation. While the bishops contended the bill would open the way for taxpayer-supported abortions, Keehan said her analysis indicated it would not, a view recently seconded by a federal judge.
In an interview, Keehan indicated she still supports the expansion of health insurance coverage under Obama’s law. … ."
[Keehan referred to above is Sr. Carol Keehan who
has always supported Obamacare. Guess she and her
associates forgot that they would reap what they sowed.]
"WASHINGTON – They defied the bishops to support President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul. Now Catholic hospitals are dismayed the law may force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees.
A provision in the law expanded preventive health-care benefits for women, and the administration said last week that must include birth control with no copays. The Catholic Health Association says a proposed conscience exemption is so narrowly written it would apply only to houses of worship. Some other religious-based organizations agree.
…
The administration’s proposed exemption defines a religious employer as one whose purpose is to instill religious values, which primarily employs and serves people who share its religious tenets, and which is nonprofit.
Three of those four tests don’t work for Catholic hospitals and their 640,000 employees, said Keehan. “Catholic hospitals have never discriminated about employment,” she explained. Likewise, the 5.6 million patients they admit annually can be of any religious faith, or none. And while patients might see a crucifix, they’re not going to get a sermon.
It’s not just Catholic hospitals that would be ineligible for an exemption, said Jeanne Monahan, a policy expert at the conservative Family Research Council. “Any religious group that is not focused on proselytizing will not receive this exemption,” she said. “Educational institutions, groups that are focused on serving the homeless, feeding the hungry, they won’t receive it.”
Law professor Nicholas Cafardi of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, an expert on tax exempt organizations, said he agrees the administration’s current definition is too narrow. He suggested a more liberal standard employed in the federal tax code might be part of a compromise. Duquesne is a Catholic institution.
In the critical final stages of the congressional health care debate last year, Catholic hospitals broke with the bishops to support passage of the legislation. While the bishops contended the bill would open the way for taxpayer-supported abortions, Keehan said her analysis indicated it would not, a view recently seconded by a federal judge.
In an interview, Keehan indicated she still supports the expansion of health insurance coverage under Obama’s law. … ."
[Keehan referred to above is Sr. Carol Keehan who
has always supported Obamacare. Guess she and her
associates forgot that they would reap what they sowed.]