Implementing Health Reform: HHS Proposes Rule Implementing Anti-Discrimination ACA Provisions (Contraceptive Coverage Litigation Update)

September 6 Update Decision Upholding Religious Accommodation On Contraceptive Coverage Prompts Vigorous Dissent On September 4, 2015, the Seventh Circuit federal court of appeals rejected another challenge to the accommodation offered by the federal government to religious nonprofit organizations that object to the coverage of contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act’s preventive services mandate. The two-to-one decision in Grace Schools v. Burwell reverses a district court decision which had granted the plaintiff religious organizations a preliminary injunction under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The majority opinion, written by Judge Ilana Rovner, is unexceptional. It merely follows three earlier Seventh Circuit decisions rejecting RFRA challenges to the contraceptive mandate, which are in turn in accord with decisions by the Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits, as well as interim orders that the Supreme Court has entered in several cases. The court remanded the case to the district court to consider issues additional arguments raised by the plaintiffs. The most remarkable feature of the decision is the long and vigorous dissent by Judge Daniel Manion, who contends that the majority, and all of the other courts of appeal that have decided the case, are wrong, and that in fact the government fails to meet every requirement of RFRA. RFRA prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion unl...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Equity and Disparities Featured Following the ACA Source Type: blogs