Reports detailing the health reform legislation currently winding through legislative committees indicate a likelihood the bill will include a mandate for individuals to obtain health insurance. CQPolitics' Maura Reynolds, however, writes today that an exemption – similar to the one available to the Old Order Amish and others for Social Security and Medicare contributions – is in place for those who object to insurance on religious grounds.
What’s not clear is whether the exemption, originally designed to apply only to the Old Order Amish, might be used by members of other religious groups — or those who just say they are — in order to evade the insurance mandate.
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A senior Democratic aide involved in drafting the Senate bill, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said no member of Congress has pushed for penalties because the number of religious objectors are few and there has been little history of others improperly claiming the exclusion, at least for Social Security and Medicare taxes.
I'm not sure that an exemption today can be crafted to achieve such narrowly tailored results as the one that currrently allows such a very few to refuse Social Security and Medicare. It will be interesting to see – if the bill becomes law – how many claim the religious exemption, falsely or not. In Massachussetts, Reynolds reports, a similar state exemption resulted in 9,700 filing religious objections. That would translate into a manageable 450,000 nationwide. Mass., however, has a penalty for illegitimate claims.
