Social-Service Agencies Say They Need Broader Exemption From Requirements on Contraceptives
By
KRIS MAHER
Catholic organizations have ramped up opposition to new federal health-care requirements to cover contraceptive services, saying the rules may prompt them to drop insurance or shut down.
Beginning next August, employers have to provide coverage for contraception and other preventive services for women such as screening for gestational diabetes and domestic-violence counseling under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, part of the federal health-care law passed in 2010.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services exempted religious organizations that employ and serve people of the same faith from having to provide contraception services, but this exception has been criticized as too narrow by church leaders, as well as some members of Congress.
"Jesus himself, or the Good Samaritan of his famous parable, would not qualify as 'religious enough' for the exemption, since they insisted on helping people who did not share their view of God," said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.
Catholic social-service agencies, universities, hospitals and nursing homes wouldn't be exempt because they frequently employ and serve non-Catholics. "The point is we're being asked to pay for services that go against our beliefs," said Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik in an interview. "This looks like the government telling us what we can and can't believe and what we can and can't do."
Without a broader exemption, he said, many Catholic social-service agencies would drop health-insurance coverage and risk losing employees. And instead of restricting their employment and services to Catholics to avoid the requirement, some might close, he said.
"If you're required to pay for services that are contrary to our teaching, the only option is to not provide benefits," said Susan Rauscher, executive director of Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh, which serves about 81,000 in southwestern Pennsylvania of all faiths.
Ms. Rauscher said between 60% and 70% of the nonprofit's 147 employees are covered by the agency health-care plan. The plan only pays for contraception when prescribed for a medical condition, she said.
If the agency decides to drop health-care coverage, starting in 2014 it would have to pay an annual penalty of $2,000 per employee beyond the first 30 employees, or $234,000. "Would I prefer to use that on my clients who need assistance? Absolutely," she said. A bigger concern is retention: "How do we keep and retain employees?"
HHS, which wrote the exemption's language and has the discretion to revise it, has agreed to accept comments until Friday to help the department "strike the right balance between expanding prevention coverage and respecting religious beliefs," said spokesman Richard Sorian.
In the past two weeks, churches across the country have been urging local parishioners to contact HHS and ask for a broadening of the exemption.
Several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, support the religious exemption in its current form. "We think it's essential for women that contraception be covered among other preventive services," said Sarah Lipton-Lubet, policy counsel at the ACLU.
Sister Carol Keehan, chief executive of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, which represents 2,000 Catholic hospitals, nursing homes and other organizations, suggested in a letter to HHS that the exemption be broadened to any organization that "shares common religious bonds and convictions with a church." That language is modeled on a section of the Internal Revenue Code related to pension, health and welfare plans offered by religious entities.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said the mandate to provide contraception violates the First Amendment separation of church and state and could end up in court if exemptions aren't broadened, said Richard Doerflinger, director of pro-life activities at the conference.
In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said the exemption should be redrafted "to ensure the protection of religious liberty, freedom of conscience, and important public services that Catholic institutions provide."
The state's other senator, Bob Casey, a Catholic Democrat and abortion foe who supports greater access to contraceptives because they reduce the number of abortions, is in favor of a broader exemption, according to his spokeswoman April Mellody. The senator doesn't believe religious-affiliated institutions should "be forced to buy health insurance policies" contrary to their religious beliefs.
Source
No comments:
Post a Comment