Some thoughts on the insurance system

[DarkLight]

Here’s a question: how much access should an employer have to what the employee is spending their insurance on? And how much access do they currently have?

(1) I fully support the Church’s right to not pay for contraception, based on their own religious beliefs. I do believe that they should not be forced into paying for it.

(2) I take hormones for various medical conditions. Due to the specific formulation required, this is not cheap and I would not be able to pay for it on my own (rather small) stipend.

(3) I would not particularly want to disclose the reasons why I take these hormones to an employer. This is partly out of a general concern for privacy, and partly out of past experiences with people making negative assumptions based on misunderstanding what I have - frequently along the lines of “what can’t you just take some advil I don’t believe it can be all that bad!”

Is this an unavoidable problem with employer-sponsored health care, or would it be a special problem with birth control pills?

 

[Robert_Bay]

Not a news article. Please read the rules posted at the top of the Catholic News forum.

 

[57Bill]

It may vary from State to State.

AFAIK it’s between (and should be) the employee and the ins. co. ONLY

An HR dept would have to have access to claims…which again AFAIK they cannot have.

 

[DarkLight]

Interesting. I have heard many Catholics complain that, if insurance covers contraceptive medicines at all, most people will lie to get them for the purposes of contraception. To what extent do we have a duty to avoid this? It unfortunately seems like a problem that, if contraceptive-type medications are covered at all, at least some people will obtain and use them for the purposes of contraception.