A new plan for birth control coverage (Obama Administration proposal) [View all]

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A new plan for birth control coverage

The Obama administration proposes that employees of some religiously affiliated workplaces get contraceptive coverage through a separate, private insurance policy at no cost.

By Noam N. Levey, Washington Bureau
February 1, 2013, 9:12 p.m.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, trying to defuse one of the most contentious issues in its healthcare law, proposed Friday a new way to shield religiously affiliated organizations, such as hospitals and universities, from having to provide contraceptive coverage directly to their employees.

Instead, the employees would obtain coverage through a separate, private insurance policy at no cost.

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The administration took a second approach to try to address concerns from hospitals, charities and universities such as Notre Dame that have religious affiliations but primarily provide nonreligious services to people of many faiths. Many of these employers, like churches, object on moral grounds to providing contraceptive coverage.

The Obama administration did not exempt them in the way that churches and other houses of worship are carved out of the mandate.

Instead, administration officials proposed a complex system designed to insulate these employers from having to pay for the contraceptive coverage or even arrange it for their employees.

Employers that contract with insurance companies to provide health benefits to their employees would notify the insurer that they object to the coverage. Under the proposed regulations, the insurer would then have to offer the employees a separate contraceptive benefit at no cost to the employees.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-insurance-contraceptives-20130202,0,680698.story