Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Religious Groups, Including Denver Nuns, Challenge Health Law's Birth Control Rules
In the latest religious challenge to the federal health care law, faith-based organizations that object to covering birth control in their employee health plans argued in federal appeals court Monday that the government hasn鈥檛 gone far enough to ensure they don鈥檛 have to violate their beliefs. Plaintiffs including a group of Colorado nuns and four Christian colleges in Oklahoma argued in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver that a federal exemption for groups that oppose contraceptives, including the morning-after pill, violates their beliefs. (Wyatt, 12/8)
A group of Colorado nuns told a federal appeals court on Monday that the government is forcing them to violate their religious beliefs by providing access to birth control in their employee health plans. In another round of religious objections to the federal health care law, the Little Sisters of the Poor and other faith-based nonprofit organizations argued in the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that filing an exemption compels the groups to go against their beliefs. (Steffen, 12/8)
It鈥檚 not enough for the Little Sisters of the Poor to be able to opt out of the Affordable Care Act provision that requires health insurance for employees to cover contraceptives. In a hearing Monday in Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, their lawyer argued that even to acknowledge to the government that they will not provide contraceptive coverage forces them to do something they consider immoral. (Carman, 12/8)
