Today, HHS answers a question that arose last February when the administration announced its compromise regarding insurance coverage for contraception at faith-based nonprofits that objected to the coverage on moral grounds (places of worship do not have to provide contraceptive coverage at all). Here is the question as I
framed it last February:
Under the compromise,
- Religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.
- Contraception coverage will be offered to women by their
employers’ insurance companies directly [and free of charge], with no
role for religious employers who oppose contraception.
Question: more than half of Americans who get their health
coverage from their employers are in self-funded plans -- that is, plans
in which the employer sets aside funds to cover the cost of health
care, usually hiring a third party administrator (TPA) to handle the
claims process, as well as a stop-loss insurer to cover costs above a
certain level. So: who will "provide contraception coverage" in
self-funded plans? If it's the self-funded entity, then the employer
is paying for it. Would the TPA somehow absorb the cost -- or a
stop-loss insurer under some special rider? If so, surely either would
find a way to pass the cost back?
And lo,
here is the answer, published today by HHS:
