Trump Administration Regulatory Rebalancing Favors Religious And Moral Freedom Over Contraceptive Access

On October 6, 2017, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury, released two interim final rules addressing religious and moral objections to the coverage of contraceptives under the preventive services requirement of the Affordable Care Act, as well as accommodations for those objections. Treasury released with the interim final rules two accompanying proposed rules (here and here) apparently required for technical reasons because Treasury released temporary rules. HHS also updated the Health Resources and Services Administration women’s health guidelines to reflect the rule change. Finally, HHS also released also October 6 a guidance on coverage of abortions by qualified health plans. This post will cover the interim final rules and an update will address the abortion guidance. The interim final rules are effective October 6, but the administration will accept comments on the rule until December 5, 2017. An earlier leaked version of the regulation was covered here in early June Unlike the leaked version, the published version of the interim final rule separates the religious and moral exemption and accommodation rules into two separate rules, presumably to make clear that each stands on its own against legal challenges. Otherwise the regulatory language is very similar to the leaked version. The preambles of the published versions, however, are much longer and develop much more extensively the arguments made in the preamble to the leaked rule. The r...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage Uncategorized contraceptive coverage contraceptive mandate Preventive Services Mandate Religious Freedom Restoration Act Source Type: blogs