The College Fix

After facing enormous backlash stemming from a new birth control mandate for insurance plans offered by religious institutions, today the White House announced a compromise. The new rule would allow religious universities and other non-profits to exempt themselves form providing insurance coverage for birth control, as they have done in the past.

Catholic universities, in particular, had objected to Obama’s earlier plan since the Catholic church forbids the use of artificial methods of birth control. Critics argued that president Obama would be violating religious liberty by requiring Catholic universities to pay for something the church forbids.

So has Obama finally warmed up to the principle of religious liberty? Don’t count on it. The latest announcement, upon closer inspection, appears to be a bunch of bull. In reality, the Obama administration is simply playing games with words. As the Washington Post reports:

Religiously-affiliated non-profit employers such as schools, charities, universities, and hospitals will be able to provide their workers with plans that exclude such coverage. However, the insurance companies that provide the plans will have to offer those workers the opportunity to obtain additional contraceptive coverage directly, at no additional charge.

Let’s get this straight: Under the new compromise, insurance companies sponsored by religious universities would still be required to cover birth control. Only now, insurance companies would be required to provide the birth control coverage for free. The institutions themselves would not be required to pay for that part of the health plan.

But won’t insurance companies simply raise their overall rates to compensate for these “free” services?

It’s like when you buy a set of steak knives off a TV infomercial for $19.95, and they throw in a cheap “free” gadget, like a lemon peeler or a pizza cutter, on the side. In effect, you’re paying for everything. Saying that part of the purchase is “free” is nothing more than a sales gimmick. We all know that.

It’s the old bait and switch. Pure Washington spin. The new “compromise” is nothing but the old mandate dressed up with a new infomercial-style sales pitch. In the end, religious institutions with objections to birth control will still end up paying for it. The new plan still threatens religious liberty. But Obama obviously believes that Catholic universities and other non-profits that object to his agenda are too stupid to understand this.

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