Obama Adjusts Birth Control Rule after Catholic Resistance

ForexTV NewsDesk   |  February 10 2012 1:30 EST

ForexTV.com (New York) by Chikako Shitani

President Barack Obama announced an adjustment plan on Friday in the dispute over whether to oblige full contraception insurance coverage for employees at Catholic organization and its affiliated institutions.Churches remain exempted from this Affordable Care Act, however under the new policy, Catholic affiliated hospitals and universities will also not be mandated to offer contraception coverage to their employees.

The policy quotes if a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage, but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge.Instead, the new policy puts the final ruling on insurance companies, ordering them to provide workers at religious-affiliated institutions with free family planning if they request it, without involving their employer at all, the White House said.

White House official said that the impact of the change on insurers would be cost neutral--and even potentially cost-saving--because on balance it would reduce the need to provide medical coverage related to unwanted pregnancies and other conditions that can be avoided with birth control.

The Affordable Care Act, the Administration adopted new guidelines that will require most private health plans to cover preventive services for women without charging a co-pay takes effective on August 1, 2012.

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