The Supreme Court Friday agreed to hear yet another challenge to the Affordable Care Act – the fourth such review to take place in the five years since the law was passed.
The latest case considers whether faith-based hospitals, colleges and charities are being made “complicit” in allowing women to obtain birth control despite not being required to pay for contraceptives.
The groups filing the complaint say the system the Obama administration has set up to exempt them from paying for birth control still violates their religious beliefs by requiring them to make their objection known and identify their insurer or insurance administrator.
Under direction from the White House, houses of worship and other religious institutions with a primarily faith-promoting purpose are exempt from the ACA’s requirement to offer birth control through their health insurance plans. For religious-affiliated nonprofits like schools and hospitals, the organizations must fill out a government document or otherwise notify the government that providing any or all of the 20 approved contraceptive devices and methods violate their religious beliefs.
The insurance company or third-party administrator will then take on the responsibility of paying for the birth control. Insurers are reimbursed by the government through credits against fees owed under other parts of the ACA.
The Obama administration has argued that this accommodation does not violate religious rights and is the most effective and efficient means of dealing with the birth control issue.
Previous courts have been inclined to subscribe to this view; seven out of eight federal appeals courts have agreed with the administration that the law does not violate religious freedom.
Only the appeals court in St. Louis ruled for the plaintiffs, arguing that they have a right to refuse to comply with the administration’s requirements for exemption.
The case is set to be argued in late March.
