Last summer, I blogged about the preventive services recommendations made by the medical advisory panel of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. In August 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) published an interim final rule requiring most health plans to provide certain recommended preventive services for women, including barring co-payments on contraception approved by the FDA, for plan years beginning on or after August 1, 2012. The rule provided an exemption for certain religious employers.
On January 20, 2012, DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that religious employers who do not currently provide contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plan will have until August 1, 2013, to comply with the new law if they certify their eligibility and provide notices to their employees of the availability of contraceptive services at clinics and other sites. Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation. The intent was to require employers that do not offer coverage of contraceptive services to provide notice to employees, which will also state that contraceptive services are available at sites such as community health centers, public clinics, and hospitals with income-based support.
On Friday, President Obama announced that his administration will not require religious-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their employees. Instead, these employees will be able to get contraceptive coverage directly from health insurers. Churches and houses of worship that object to birth control coverage are already exempted. The newest compromise applies to religious institutions, such as hospitals, universities and charities that employ and serve large numbers of non-religious employees.
After the announcement, another wrinkle was discovered. What about self-insured religious affiliated organizations? Similar to many large employers, many religiously affiliated organizations choose to insure themselves rather than hire an outside company to assume the risk. According to news sources, the details on how to treat self-insured organizations will be discussed with interested parties in the very near future.
[...] February, I wrote about the fact that DHHS announced that religious-affiliated employers would be exempt from the [...]