Supreme Court gives temporary exemption to nuns on contraception coverage

Jan 28 2014

The Little Sisters of The Poor doesn't want to have an outside administrator for its health plan, which covers employees of their nursing facilities.

CQ HealthBeat: Supreme Court Gives Catholic Nonprofit Reprieve From Contraception Mandate
The Supreme Court sided with a nonprofit Catholic organization over the Obama administration on Friday in agreeing to provide the group with at least a temporary reprieve from the 2010 health care law's requirement that it make contraceptives available to its employees (Gramlich, 1/24).

ABC News: Supreme Court Allows Nuns To Opt Out Of Contraceptive Mandate For Now
The government argued that all the Little Sisters had to do was sign a form and provide a copy of it to the third-party administrator of their self-insured group health plan. But the Little Sisters had argued that even having to sign the form violated their religious freedom. The court said it was issuing the order but that it should not be "construed as an expression of the Court's views on the merits" (de Vogue, 1/24).

CNN: Charity Gets Win For Now Over Obamacare On Contraception
The high court order, which also covers the charity's insurance administrator, will remain in effect while lower courts continue to wrangle with the merits of the primary challenge to the federal health law mandates on contraception. ... Although the high court order applies specifically to the Little Sisters of the Poor and its administrator, Christian Brothers Services, it will likely have the practical effect of keeping the government from forcing other religious non-profits that raised similar objections to comply with the mandates (Mears, 1/25).