Under pressure from religious and conservative groups, the Obama administration has offered another compromise on the issue of birth control coverage within the Affordable Care Act. While exempting churches and some religiously affiliated institutions, such as hospitals and universities, from supplying the coverage, the new proposal calls for their employees to receive stand-alone private insurance policies providing birth control coverage at no cost. Insurance companies will foot the bill, but only the naive can possibly think the cost won’t find its way back to the institution in the form of higher health premiums.
Numerous lawsuits filed against this and other portions of Obamacare will proceed and for good reason: the federal government seems intent on setting rules on matters of conscience and worse, defining what constitutes a church or religious institution.
