Friday, February 10, 2012
The President's Accommodation
It's old news that Secretary Sebelius of the US Department of Health and Human Services proposed regulations, with the White Houses' blessing (at least), which would have required Catholic organizations (not the Churches themselves), like schools and hospitals, to provide health insurance under Obamacare which health insurance plans would have to provide things anathema to the Catholic catechism, namely, contraception, abortifacients and sterilization. The executive regulations were also almost certainly unconstitutional as the federal government can't make a statute apply to certain things a religion does. The recent case of Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, involving a Lutheran school and the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, went 9-0 against the administration's position (that the ADA applied to the Chruch school). Tough to believe there'd be a majority for legislation forcing the Catholic Church to cross its fervently held religious belief regarding contraception, sterilization and abortion by making it provide and pay for the three bad items. This was a dumb idea from the very start.
Then it got worse.
The President today proposed this accommodation: We'll call the contraception, abortifacients and sterilization "preventative care" and make the health insurance carriers give all three to all women for free. That way: "Religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception,” and, “contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception.”
But this is no different than the first proposed rules. Setting aside the "free" aspect as the traditional liberal blindspot, the Catholic Organization still has to provide health insurance which provides the three anathema services. Nothing has changed.
To call the President's thinking here childlike is, I think, an insult to children. It is not as good as holding your hands over your eyes and saying, "You can't see me."
It's just stupid.
Religious liberty preserved, my wide ass.
UPDATE: The Catholic Bishops come to the same conclusion. It's nice to be with exalted company. They wrote:
[The "compromise"] would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write.
Then it got worse.
The President today proposed this accommodation: We'll call the contraception, abortifacients and sterilization "preventative care" and make the health insurance carriers give all three to all women for free. That way: "Religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception,” and, “contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception.”
But this is no different than the first proposed rules. Setting aside the "free" aspect as the traditional liberal blindspot, the Catholic Organization still has to provide health insurance which provides the three anathema services. Nothing has changed.
To call the President's thinking here childlike is, I think, an insult to children. It is not as good as holding your hands over your eyes and saying, "You can't see me."
It's just stupid.
Religious liberty preserved, my wide ass.
UPDATE: The Catholic Bishops come to the same conclusion. It's nice to be with exalted company. They wrote:
[The "compromise"] would still mandate that all insurers must include coverage for the objectionable services in all the policies they would write.
Labels: Catholic Church Catechism: Obama Accommodation
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 3:19 PM 
