Religious Exemptions Under Fire in Health Care Coverage

[orrinturner]

Religious Exemptions Under Fire in Health Care Coverage

by Karla Dial

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wraps up a public comment period Friday on a new interim rule requiring nearly all private health plans to cover contraception, sterilization and possible abortifacients as free "preventive" care for women.

If the rule is adopted, insurers would be forced to cover all methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration — including so-called emergency contraception pills — and individuals who object to them on moral and religious grounds would be forced to subsidize them.