On Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its latest proposed rule aimed at self-employed religious organizations who object to paying for preventive services and contraceptive coverage for their employers.
Last month the administration issued a final rule that the costs of the additional coverage be borne by insurance companies, if a religious organization objected to paying for only those services in its current insurance plan. The proposed rule issued Friday proposes to have the plan administrators of self-insured religious organizations who object to paying for the coverage bear the additional costs of these services.
"The President's policy respects religious liberty and makes free preventive services available to women," said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a brief press release announcing the proposed rule. "(This) announcement is the next step toward fulfilling that commitment."
Self-insured plans, which are often offered to employees by large companies, typically contract with an insurance companies for administrative tasks like claims processing. The new rule suggests that under these circumstances, the cost of the preventive health and contraceptive coverage could be funded by the third-party administrators in a number of a different ways.
"The third-party administrator could use revenue that is not already obligated to plan sponsors such as drug rebates, service fees, disease management program fees or other sources. These funds may insure to the third-party administrator rather than the plan or its sponsor and drug rebates, for example, could be larger if contraceptive coverage were provided," the proposed rule detailed. "Additionally, nothing precludes a third- party administrator from receiving funds from a private, non-profit organization to pay for contraceptive services for the participants and beneficiaries covered under the plan of a religious organization."
The issue of requiring health plans to cover benefits that include contraceptives at no costs has been simmering for a number of months. While religious institutions whose main purpose is to inculcate religious beliefs are exempt from the requirement, larger religious-based organizations such as universities, charities and hospital systems have also objected to the requirement.
The compromise announced Feb. 10 by the administration that would not require these religious-based organizations to pay for the benefits, while still keeping them intact have received tepid approval from the Catholic Health Association and Catholic Charities USA. Others such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops continue their opposition to the requirement, seeing it as a violation of the First Amendment.
Others, including Planned Parenthood and the National Organization for Women view it as a women's health issue and have praised the administration's policy.