Implementing Health Reform: New Accommodations For Employers On Contraceptive Coverage

TweetOn August 22, 2014, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury released an interim final  and a proposed  rule providing for the accommodation of religious objections on the part of an employer or institution of higher learning to providing their employees or students coverage for contraceptive services.  A fact sheet on the rules was also released,   as was a notice on the revision of the form used to collect information on religious objections to contraceptive coverage. The proposed rule, which applies to for-profit entities, is being issued in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, which ruled that closely-held for-profit corporations may refuse to cover contraceptives for religious reasons.  The interim final rule responds to the Court’s interim order in Wheaton College v. Burwell  (and to 31 lower court injunctions) that released religious non-profit organizations from accommodations earlier proposed by HHS. The history.  The back story of this rule has been described in a number of posts here before. The Affordable Care Act requires non-grandfathered health insurance coverage and employer-sponsored group health plans to cover preventive services without cost sharing.  This includes women’s preventive services as defined by the Health Resources and Services Administration.  In response to this requirement, HRSA asked the Institute of Medicine to recommend women’s preventive services that should be...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: All Categories Employer-Sponsored Insurance Health Law Health Reform Prevention Source Type: blogs