Health Insurance The Debate Over Contraception Coverage

The details about what health insurance policies do and do not cover has consistently made the news during the early weeks of February thanks to an ongoing public discussion about the availability of contraceptive care for women. ObamaCare, the president’s landmark health care legislation, will require many employers across the nation to purchase policies for their employees, but these employers will not be allowed to provide workers with any policy at all – it must be one that meets the requirements laid out in the Affordable Care Act and the regulations being developed at both the state and federal level as the law moves toward full implementation.

A contentious issue that has cropped up has been the provision of contraceptive care. The Obama administration would like to see such care be included in every health care policy, but this position is controversial in some circles because some employers view the requirement as infringing on their own religious liberties. Catholic universities and hospitals follow the official policy teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, which holds that birth control is not permissible. Because of this prohibition, some Catholic employers would prefer not to be in the position of providing health care policies that include birth control coverage.

Last week, President Obama announced that health insurance plans offered by employers would be required to include contraceptive care for women. Catholic bishops in the United States announced their opposition to such a plan, citing the first amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion. The strident denunciation of the rule from Republicans as well as Catholics caused the administration to modify its stance, although not the principle underlying the requirement for contraceptive care.

Speaking for the administration, Jacob Lew, currently serving as White House Chief of Staff, announced that religious organizations would not be required to arrange, facilitate or pay for contraceptive coverage. Instead, all of these responsibilities will fall to insurance companies themselves. Lew made the point that this policy is in the financial best interests of insurance companies in any case. In the American medical system, it is much more expensive to pay for prenatal care and childbirth than for contraception that would have prevented pregnancy in the first place.

“If you look at the overall cost of providing healthcare to a woman, the cost goes up, not down, if you take contraceptives out,” commented Lew when challenged on the issue during his interview on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

The rule as announced at the current time would provide an exemption for churches, but not for church-affiliated institutions. Some Catholic organizations announced their approval of the modified rule announced by Lew, while others still saw the issue as appropriate for the courts to sort out since it does touch on issues of constitutional rights.

While the administration hammers out the final details regarding ObamaCare, however, Americans still without health insurance should look for a insurance policy online, where they can compare rates and provisions with ease at sites that automatically collect the relevant data for them.