Another bluff from the Administration of Smoke and Mirrors!
According to "Obama Revamps Contraceptive Policy":
President Barack Obama announced Friday that the administration will not require religious-affiliated institutions to cover birth control for their employees.When one gets treatment under the coverage provided by a health insurance policy, the employer never directly pays for that treatment. Employees don't go to the employer's management office for their healthcare needs but instead to the doctor or other provider.
Capping weeks of growing controversy, Obama said he was backing off a newly announced requirement for religious employers to provide free birth control coverage even if it runs counter to their religious beliefs.
Instead, workers at such institutions will be able to get free birth control coverage directly from health insurance companies....
For example, when I had knee surgery in 2000, my husband's employer-based health insurance policy, which also covered me, paid for that surgery according to the parameters of the health insurance contract. My husband's employer didn't even know that I had knee surgery, either before or after the fact.
I can't see that Obama's "compromise" has been any real compromise. If employers are providing health insurance plans to employees and all insurance plans provide free contraception, then those employers with religious objections are still paying for access to something to which they object. Furthermore, Obama has once again dictated to a private company what that company's policies must cover.
It's all a question of framing and spin. Something a former community organizer and editor at the Harvard Law Review should be pretty adept at.
ReplyDelete...and if the MSM announces that it was a compromise, well then THAT certainly seals the deal for me!
ReplyDeleteSmoke & Mirrors indeed. The entire law (Obamacare) has got to go, either judcially or legislatively.
ReplyDeleteQuacking like a duck, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteWhile this birth control kabuki runs its course everyone is ignoring the bank settlement.
ReplyDeleteThat will be right out of the news cycle before the right wing suckers notice he got down on his knees for the banksters again.
Very well executed.
Note THIS from Greg Mankiw's Blog:
ReplyDeleteSemantics at the Highest Level
Consider these two policies:
A. An employer is required to provide its employees health insurance that covers birth control.
B. An employer is required to provide its employees health insurance. The health insurance company is required to cover birth control.
I can understand someone endorsing both A and B, and I can understand someone rejecting both A and B. But I cannot understand someone rejecting A and embracing B, because they are effectively the same policy. Ultimately, all insurance costs are passed on to the purchaser, so I cannot see how policy B is different in any way from policy A, other than using slightly different words to describe it.
Yet it seems that the White House yesterday switched from A to B, and that change is being viewed by some as a significant accommodation to those who objected to policy A.
Spot on!
Maybe the moron will the get hint that none of us wants his Obamacare rubbish shoved down our throats.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am proud of the Catholic Church and all religious groups that stood up the great Obama and told him, "no."
You guys are never happy. Obama compromises to keep the out-of-touch Catholics and their draconian policies happy and you still have the nerve to complain that lives will be saved by providing contraception in another manner.
ReplyDeleteAnd why Letica, would you not want Health Care reform? You'd rather a family member be kicked by an insurance company to die so their CEO's can make obscene profits?
You'd rather have to organize a freakin' spaghetti dinner at the local VFW Hall to help pay for someone's chemo? You'd rather have to sell your house to pay for a family members surgery?
Wake up.
This is one of those situations that makes me repeat one of my little catchphrases...
ReplyDelete"A difference that makes no difference is not a difference."
Poor Obama. The plan was to release this compromise, have the media shill for him, and have everyone buy it. Seems as if all of a sudden the emperor has no clothes.
ReplyDeleteLiberalmann, sigh.
Obama did tell us he thought the Constitution was wrong. Why we would ever elect he to support and defend it is an obvious sign we are a sick and ignorant society......
ReplyDeleteThis move by Obama is a violation of the Constitution to counter what is clearly a violation of the Constitution.
The good news, the Supremes watch the news, we need more of this type of thing every month to help them come to the realization the Nation doesnot want this crap.
Ducky, we know about the bank shakedown for campaign funds but that is not the point of this thread.
Liberalmann said:
ReplyDeleteYou'd rather have to sell your house to pay for a family members surgery?
That happens even WITH health insurance. Health insurance companies have gate keepers and policy limitations -- not to mention the fact that there is a bottom line.
By mandating that health insurance companies have to cover the cost of contraception, Obama is dictating the policy of a private company.
Will Obama next mandate that all health insurance companies have to cover the cost of organ transplants? Of plastic surgery? Of ophthalmic surgery? Of all durable medical equipment?
And just what is covered by the term "contraception"?
The fact is this: no health insurance company can afford to cover every service or treatment possibly needed. And the taxpayers can't afford to do so either.
Wow:
ReplyDeleteAccess To Birth Control Is A Fundamental Component Of Climate Survival
Any morally acceptable pathway to prevent catastrophic global warming includes broad access to affordable birth control for the world’s women.
As if some male-centric cultures are going to allow women free access to birth control!
In many of those societies, the very lives of women depend on producing children -- particularly, male children.
Note this comment over at Silverfiddle's site, at 2/11/12 12:35 PM:
ReplyDeleteThe issue isn't over the legality of it, the issue is over who pays for it and whether or not the government has a right to mandate it.
There are a myriad of things that are vital to health that are not covered by health insurance. As I pointed out to Jersey previously: food, clothing, vitamins, etc.
Malnutrition is a medical condition yet food is not covered under your health insurance plan.
Pregnancy is the result of a voluntary act, pregnancy is the consequence. If you don't want to get pregnant, either don't have sex or buy contraceptives yourself.
Sure if your doctor says you shouldn't get pregnant for a medical reason, contraception is healthcare and should be covered if a medical necessity. If your accountant says you shouldn't get pregnant because you can't afford it... well then it is your responsibility to ensure that you don't....
This is no compromise at all. We cannot, must not, compromise on our religious freedom. Religious freedom is a constitutional right of ours and we mus not back down. Obama and his minions can go stuff this so called compromise somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAOW, you almost said it but let me complete the thought....the next step will be mandated coverage for sex change operations
ReplyDelete