Seeking to curtail the political uproar over birth control and religious liberty, President Obama announced today a compromise on the requirement that non-grandfathered health insurance plans offered by religiously-affiliated institutions offer free birth control to female employees beginning (for most plans) in 2014.
Under the compromise, it appears women still will be guaranteed coverage for contraceptive services without any out-of-pocket cost, but only if the health plan is insured.
Religiously-affiliated non-profit employers such as schools, charities, universities and hospitals will be able to provide their workers with plans that exclude such coverage. Moreover, they will have no obligation to inform their employees that they can receive contraception coverage in other ways, or refer them to where they can obtain the coverage.
However, the insurance companies that underwrite the non-grandfathered plans will have to offer those workers the opportunity to obtain additional contraceptive coverage directly from the insurer, at no additional charge. Policy experts explained that there is effectively no cost to provide contraception coverage, because covering contraceptives is cheaper than covering pregnancy and childbirth.
The compromise appears to place self-funded non-grandfathered plans sponsored by church-affiliated employers on the same footing as non-grandfathered plans sponsored by the churches themselves, and permit such self-funded plans to request an outright exemption from the requirement to cover contraceptives, on account of a faith-based objection.
The policy change is an attempt to satisfy two groups – Catholics and women’s groups – over what has become a highly controversial political issue. Republican presidential candidates criticized President Obama for what they called an assault on religious liberty. Catholic priests and bishops spoke recently against the policy in Sunday masses.
The policy proposed last summer and confirmed last month as part of health reform required non-grandfathered health plans to provide female employees the full range of contraceptive coverage, including birth control, the “morning-after pill” and sterilization services, for plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2012. The measure allowed churches to seek an exemption on the basis of faith-based objections, but did not extend that accommodation to other religiously-affiliated institutions.
Vice-President Biden noted that the administration wanted to “make sure women who need access to birth control are not denied that” and that “the church is able to be consistent with its teachings.”