A proposed rule from the Biden administration would allow women and covered dependents to obtain birth control at no cost under the Affordable Care Act, even if their employer-provided health insurance plan has a religious exemption.
“If this rule is finalized, individuals who have health plans that would otherwise be subject to the ACA preventive services requirements but have not covered contraceptive services because of a moral or religious objection, would now have access,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement Monday.
Trump-era provisions allowed organizations to opt out of providing coverage for contraceptives on moral grounds. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a faith-based senior housing provider in 2020. Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic nonprofit that operates approximately 30 affordable senior housing, senior living and long-term care homes in approximately 20 states, challenged the existing rules at the time, claiming the organization would be forced to violate its religious beliefs by “taking actions that directly cause others to provide contraception.”
The proposed rule would leave in place the existing religious exemption for entities and individuals with objections, but it would give women an option to receive contraceptives under the ADA.
“Now more than ever, access to and coverage of birth control is critical as the Biden-Harris administration works to help ensure women everywhere can get the contraception they need, when they need it and, thanks to the ACA, with no out-of-pocket cost,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “Today’s proposed rule works to ensure that the tens of millions of women across the country who have and will benefit from the ACA will be protected.”
