The Supreme Court agreed to hear a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), this time to decide whether for-profit corporations can refuse to provide insurance coverage for birth control drugs that violate the religious beliefs of the corporations’ owners. The ACA requires that non-grandfathered health coverage include “preventive services” — which includes the full range of approved contraceptives — at no out-of-pocket cost to the insured.
When Catholic bishops objected to the requirement to provide contraceptives, the Administration exempted “religious employers,” including churches, from the mandate. Federal authorities further modified the rule so that religiously affiliated schools, colleges and hospitals could avoid paying directly for contraceptives; instead, their insurers were told to cover the costs. But the Obama Administration has refused to extend the exemption to include private, for-profit corporations whose owners have religious objections to providing some or all contraceptives.
Several private employers have filed suits seeking an exemption from the contraceptive mandate. One was brought by the family that owns Hobby Lobby, a chain of craft stores, and the Mardel chain of Christian bookstores. The family says they believe that life begins at conception and object to four of the twenty approved methods of birth control — two types of intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the emergency contraceptives commonly known as Plan B and Ella. The family is willing to cover other standard contraceptives for their full-time employees.
The Hobby Lobby case was heard by the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that forcing the company to comply with the contraceptive mandate would violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The court relied in part on the Supreme Court’s opinion in Citizens United, which said corporations had political speech rights just as individuals do. The appellate court saw no reason the Supreme Court would recognize constitutional protection for a corporation’s political expression, but not its religious expression.
However, a second case went the other way. The Third Circuit appellate court ruled that a Pennsyvania cabinet-making company owned by a Mennonite family must comply with the contraceptive mandate. Earlier in November, two more federal appellate courts also ordered the government to exempt private employers based on their religious objections to contraceptives.
Violating the contraceptive mandate could cost Hobby Lobby, in penalty taxes, $100 per day per employee. Because Hobby Lobby has 13,000 employees, the penalty would come to over $1 million per day.
The Supreme Court will probably hear the case in March 2014, followed by a decision in June.