CHA head emphasizes: government program, not Catholic hospitals, should pay for contraceptive coverage

June 20, 2012

The CEO of the Catholic Health Association has explained why the association recently called upon the Obama administration to broaden the religious exemption to the HHS mandate to include Catholic hospitals.

“Initially, we felt like we were being told that that was in the works,” said Sister Carol Keehan. “I don’t want to second guess why that changed, but when it changed--and all we had was a year deferment if we were a ministry of the church and a new definition for what constituted a religious organization--we were very concerned,”

“And I expressed those concerns directly to the president, to all of his staff and said something had to be changed,” she continued. “Publicly and privately, I was very clear. And when the president made the first accommodation, initially, we said, 'All right, that’s a great step forward. Let’s take a look at it.' We’ve spent an enormous amount of time trying to, with his staff, with the staff of the administration, trying to say, 'Okay, how could we make this work?'”

Sister Keehan added:

Many, many, many of our organizations offer a choice in health coverage to their staffs. So they would have two different ways of dealing with their employees on this issue and, quite frankly, many of our members were hearing from local insurance companies and agents that 'well, we may not carve out explicitly how we’re charging you for this but there is no free lunch and you are going to pay for it one way or the other.' That was exactly what the goal was not. The goal was to not pay. And that’s not the fault of the White House. That’s the reality of the marketplace.

“The government has plethora of programs that they use to make contraceptives available right now,” she continued. “If you want them available to women, please do it through a government program.”

“That’s why in our letter we have said very clearly, give it to them through a government program,” she added. “We’re not suggesting anything that would prevent them from getting contraceptive coverage. And we’re not saying only do it to the non-Catholics. We’re saying if you want everybody to have complete access, fine. But do it through a government program.”

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Catholic Hospital Leader Defends Split With Obama Administration On Contraceptives (Kaiser Health News)
• Catholic Health Association calls for change on HHS contraceptive mandate (CWN, 6/18)