Appeals Court Blocks Obamacare Contraceptive Mandate
By Andrew Harris and Joel Rosenblatt (Insurance Journal) November 2013
A requirement of President Barack Obama’s health-care law that group insurance plans cover contraceptives was ordered blocked by a federal appeals court, the first such ban on enforcement of the mandate.
The 2-1 decision by a U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Chicago increases the probability the U.S. Supreme Court may seek to resolve conflicting lower-court rulings, though no appeals court has made a definitive decision to throw out the law.
The three-judge panel last Thursday reversed lower-court judges in Illinois and Indiana, telling them to stay the contraception coverage requirement contained in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act while the challenges proceed. The cases were filed separately by two Catholic families and the businesses they run.
“These cases — two among many currently pending in courts around the country — raise important questions about whether business owners and their closely held corporations may assert a religious objection to the contraception mandate and whether forcing them to provide this coverage substantially burdens their religious-exercise rights,” U.S. Circuit Judge Diane Sykes wrote in the majority opinion.
Last week, an appeals panel in Washington ruled the contraceptives mandate may violate religious freedom, as did an appeals court in Denver previously. Federal appeals courts in Philadelphia and Cincinnati have upheld the law.
Supreme Court
The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to review the Denver decision. Losing plaintiffs in the Philadelphia and Cincinnati appeals also petitioned the high court for review.
While the Chicago appellate panel didn’t render a final decision on whether the requirement violates U.S. Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom or the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it ruled that compelling the companies to comply with the requirement “substantially burdens their religious exercise rights.”
Joining Sykes, who was appointed to the court by Republican President George W. Bush in 2004, was U.S. Circuit Judge Joel Flaum, a 1983 appointee of Republican Ronald Reagan.
Ilana Diamond Rovner, the dissenting judge, was named to the court by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
‘Remarkable’ Ruling
“The court’s holding in these cases is as remarkable for its reasoning as for its result,” Rovner wrote. “In the name free exercise of religion, the court has relieved two secular corporations from a statutory obligation to provide health insurance to their employees that includes coverage of contraceptive care for the companies’ female employees.”
Employees’ choice to use contraceptives may be inconsistent with the owners’ religious beliefs, Rovner said, “but it is not the owners’ choice.” She concluded the requirement doesn’t burden their religious freedom.
Adora Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, didn’t immediately respond to a call after regular business hours yesterday seeking comment on the order.
“This decision is a disappointment,” Louise Melling, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in an e-mailed statement. The organization said it filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. “Your boss shouldn’t be able to discriminate against you because of what he or she believes, plain and simple. People are entitled to their own religious beliefs, but they don’t have the right to impose those views on others.”
Company, Owners
The decision is the first appeals court ruling in favor of both a company and its owners, said Edward L. White III, a lawyer who represented Highland, Illinois-based Korte & Luitjohan Contractors Inc. and its principals, Cyril and Jane Korte. That’s important because it makes clear that either the owners or the company can sue over the mandate, he said.
“This is an important issue to people who run these small companies and are dictated by their faith in how they should run the company,” White said in a phone interview.
The Supreme Court will take up the case because “you have a conflict on an important national issue,” White said. “We’re overjoyed.”
During arguments before the appeals court on May 22, White said his clients owned 88 percent of their 50-year-old business and set its policies. Most of their decisions are made at the kitchen table, he said.
Categories
- Benefits Resources
- Bonding
- BOP
- Business Insurance
- Commercial Auto
- Commercial Property
- Company News
- Construction
- Crime Insurance
- Cyber Insurance
- Directors & Officers
- Employee Benefits
- Employment Practice Liability Insurance
- Entertainment
- General Liability
- Health Insurance
- Healthcare
- Healthcare Reform
- Homeowners Insurance
- Hospitality
- Manufacturing
- Medical Malpractice
- Mining & Energy
- Nightclubs
- Personal Auto
- Personal Insurance
- Professional
- Restaurants
- Retail & Wholesale
- Risk Management Resources
- Safety Topics
- SBA Bonds
- Security
- Seminars
- Technology
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Uncategorized
- Workers Compensation
Archives
- May 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- November 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- February 2013
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- March 2011
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- April 2010
- February 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- November 2008
- August 2008