What are they going to do now?
by digby
Some news on the Hobby Lobby front:
A “proposed rule” by the Department of Health and Human Services lets female employees of for-profit businesses, like Hobby Lobby, obtain birth control directly from their insurer, at no extra cost, if their boss opts out of covering the service in the company’s insurance plan for religious reasons.
[…]
In the same announcement, HHS will also unveil an interim rule tweaking the nonprofit accommodation, in an effort to put an end to a separate lawsuit against it. Instead of informing the insurer or third-party administrator directly, the new rule says, an objecting employer will have to notify the government, which will inform the insurer.The existing rule requires objecting employers to directly inform their insurer, at which point the insurer must pay for it. Some entities, like Wheaton College, sued and said that also violates their religious belief because it amounts to a “permission slip” for contraception. The theory is that under the new rule, it’ll be the government that triggers the provision of birth control, not the employer.
It is inane that they have to do this at all since these employers aren’t actually paying for birth control and it’s none of their goddamn business if their employees use it but there it is.
I wonder how they’re going to react now. Because we know that this isn’t really about them violating their conscience don’t we? It’s about preventing women from getting birth control. I’m sure they have something else up their sleeves …
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