Catholic Church versus Health Insurance Industry….and States Rights [View all]

[McCamy Taylor]

To hear some Republicans talk, Obama is about to force all the nation’s private insurers to offer coverage for contraceptive services, radically altering health care in this country. This is not true. As of 2004,

Nearly nine in 10 group insurance plans purchased by employers for their employees now cover a full range of prescription contraceptives.

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2004/06/15/index.html

Contraception is a no brainer for an insurance plan. Pregnancy---and especially the cost of a complicated pregnancy which could soar into the millions if a premature baby requires NICU care---is expensive. Birth control is cheap.

From an employer’s point of view, a woman using contraception is much less likely to take sick time, request maternity leave or decide to quit work and stay at home.

Here is something that some folks may find even more surprising:

Currently, the majority of private health plans cover abortion care as part of a broader health care package.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/abortion-care-coverage-health-care-reform-getting-facts-straight-29733.htm

Why do a majority of private plans cover abortion? Do they hate life? No, they realize that an elective termination is cheaper than pregnancy, particularly an unplanned, potentially complicated pregnancy.

The Catholic Church wants the federal government to allow employers to “opt out” of contraception coverage. This is not simply the Catholic Church versus the Feds. This is the Vatican versus Your State’s Rights. Because a majority of states now require that employers sponsored health insurance include birth control coverage.

At least 26 states have laws requiring insurers that cover prescription drugs also provide coverage for any Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved contraceptive. These states include: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/insurance-coverage-for-contraception-state-laws.aspx

What happens to California’s birth control mandate if the Catholic Church succeeds in getting the federal government (say under a Rick Santorum administration) to make contraception coverage “optional”? Which way would the (Catholic dominated) Supreme Court lean if asked to consider this states rights versus federal rights issue? Hint: the SCOTUS threw states rights out the window in Bush v. Gore. And then what happens if the Church launches a boycott of employers who voluntarily offer contraception coverage? Not all at once. One at a time, picking off easy targets in order to pressure struggling businesses across the country to shed birth control coverage for its employees?

It is always depressing when we have to go back and defend one of the milestones in the road for equality. We should be plowing forward, not losing ground.