Written by Don Byrd
Late last week, the White House proposed new rules of accommodation for closely-held companies whose owners object on religious grounds to providing employees with contraception coverage. The rules are an effort to comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hobby Lobby that the mandate to provide such coverage violates the religious freedom rights of such owners.
The Health Affairs blog explains the proposal.
The proposed rule would, pursuant to the Supreme Court’s judgment in Hobby Lobby, allow closely held for-profit organizations to qualify as “eligible organizations” and thus claim the same accommodation as non-profit religious organizations. To claim this accommodation, the for-profit organization must take a valid action in accordance with its governing structure under state law to state its religious objection to providing contraceptive coverage.
Additionally, the White House is requesting public comment on how for-profit organizations should be qualified as eligible for such an accommodation. In other words, what counts as a closely-held corporation? Under one proposed scenario, the determination would be based on the number of owners. Under another, a fraction of the ownership would need to be limited to a set number of individuals.
You can read the proposal here, which also offers an adjustment to the religious organization accommodation for those objecting to the current process.
