{"id":316,"date":"2012-06-15T23:12:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/catholic-health-association-reverses-course-on-mandate-accommodation\/"},"modified":"2012-06-15T23:12:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T23:12:00","slug":"catholic-health-association-reverses-course-on-mandate-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/06\/catholic-health-association-reverses-course-on-mandate-accommodation\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Health Association reverses course on mandate accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Jun 15, 2012 \/ 05:12 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- In a call for broader religious exemptions, the Catholic Health Association has backtracked from its initial support for the Obama administration\u2019s compromise on a rule that mandates employer coverage of contraception and sterilization.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tThe association said it is \u201cimperative\u201d that the administration abandon its \u201cnarrow\u201d definition of religious employer and exempt not only churches but also Catholic hospitals, health care organizations and other Church ministries.<\/p>\n

\tIt said it is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d by the administration\u2019s approach to \u201ccontraceptive services, especially abortifacient drugs and sterilization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Catholic Health Association represents over 600 hospitals and 1,400 other health facilities in all 50 U.S. states. It is the largest group of nonprofit health care providers in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\tThe June 15 letter from CHA president and CEO Sister Carol Keehan and other association board members addressed the Department of Health and Human Services about the proposed rulemaking to implement the Obama administration\u2019s intended accommodation announced on Feb. 10.<\/p>\n

\tHowever, when the accommodation was initially presented, Sr. Keehan said in a Feb. 10 statement that the Catholic Health Association was \u201cvery pleased\u201d with the White House\u2019s proposal and that it \u201cprotects the religious liberty and conscience rights of Catholic institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe are pleased and grateful that the religious liberty and conscience protection needs of so many ministries that serve our country were appreciated enough that an early resolution of this issue was accomplished,\u201d Sr. Keehan stated.<\/p>\n

\tThe CHA statement was circulated by a White House official before the Obama administration announced the proposed accommodation, a fact that prompted speculation the CHA had input into the proposal.<\/p>\n

\tBut in its June 15 letter, the CHA changed its tone. It said the announcement had seemed to be \u201ca good first step\u201d but further study \u201chas not relieved our initial concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe HHS mandate requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some abortion-causing drugs, as \u201cpreventive care\u201d for women. Its religious exemption applies only to employers whose primary purpose is the inculcation of religious values and who primarily employ and serve co-religionists.<\/p>\n

\tCatholics and other believers have objected that the exemption does not include many religious employers such as health care systems, colleges, and charities.<\/p>\n

\tInitial outcry after the Jan. 20 announcement of the mandate caused the Obama administration to propose that insurance companies, not employers, be required to provide the coverage.<\/p>\n

\tThe proposed accommodation was deemed unacceptable by the U.S. bishops and many legal experts, college professors and religious freedom advocates from a variety of political and religious backgrounds.<\/p>\n

\tThe CHA\u2019s June 15 letter reiterated the association\u2019s support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which gave the Department of Health and Human Services the power to mandate the controversial coverage.<\/p>\n

\tThe association said it had objected \u201cstrenuously\u201d to the narrow definition of religious employer in September 2011 when the mandate was being formulated.<\/p>\n

\tIts letter does not mention the conscience rights of objecting Catholic employers who run secular businesses, though the general counsel of the U.S. bishops conference has noted this problem.<\/p>\n

\tThe association said that if the government intends to provide access to contraceptive services to all employees, it should \u201cfind a way to provide and pay for these services directly without requiring any direct or indirect involvement of \u2018religious employers,\u2019 as broadly defined.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Catholic Health Association was a major backer of the 2010 health care legislation. Sr. Keehan received one of the pens that President Obama used to sign the bill into law as a token of thanks. The bishops opposed the bill on several grounds, including what they said was a lack of sufficient safeguards against abortion funding.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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