The battle over the Obama Administration’s directive that non-grandfathered (under federal health reform) health plans supply cost-free contraception benefits for female enrollees continues to heat up.
Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. filed suit last week in a federal court, seeking to block implementation of the directive. Catholic entities have filed similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions. Several weeks ago, a federal judge in Colorado issued an injunction against the Administration’s contraception mandate, pending a trial on the mandate’s legitimacy under the First Amendment.
Missouri’s state legislature last week overrode a veto of a state law allowing employers and insurers to not offer coverage for contraception, sterilization or abortion where the coverage is contrary to their religious convictions. That development triggered a lawsuit by a woman’s rights organization, which sued to block enforcement of the new Missouri law.
The action by Missouri state legislators is interesting because, if the federal courts uphold the constitutionality of the contraception mandate, the Missouri law will be in direct conflict with federal law. In that event, it seems certain that federal law will trump the Missouri law.
With the contraception mandate set to apply to plan years (for non-grandfathered plans) beginning on or after August 1, 2012, the recent developments in the nation’s courts and state legislatures set the stage for a very interesting autumn.