Obama's Misguided Birth Control Mandate
The president has picked the wrong fight.
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GoogleThe firestorm rages on over the Obama Administration rule under which all employee health insurance plans, including ones at religiously affiliated institutions such as Catholic charities and schools, must include full coverage for birth control. A proposed compromise that would exempt such institutions from paying for such coverage but require insurers to extend it to their employees for free has not appeased critics. The battle has been framed as one of religious freedom versus reproductive rights. But it also illustrates two troubling phenomena unrelated to religion: intrusive micromanagement of insurance options under the new federal health care law, and the redefinition of contraception as a public good rather than a personal choice.
The stated purpose of health care reform was to address the problem of uninsured patients who either face bankruptcy due to exorbitant bills, or rely on the free emergency care hospitals must provide. But the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) does far more than require Americans to be insured for catastrophic illness and other major medical expenses. To be approved under the ACA, an insurance policy must include extensive coverage for routine care.
In a sense, medical insurance is meant to mitigate life's unfair and arbitrary tragedies: Some people are plagued by chronic illness or struck by a devastating health crisis, and need costly care to prevent death or disability. Fertility, however, is a normal part of life and a healthy function of the human body. Contraception is arguably an essential personal need for many, especially women; to call it an essential medical need is a stretch, except where pregnancy would pose a grave health risk.
It is also not, for the vast majority, a financial burden. Defending the administration's decision to mandate birth control coverage with no copay or deductibles, Planned Parenthood official Kim Custer writes that without this benefit, "millions of women would pay $15 to $50 a month, making it a vital, but often cost-prohibitive expense for many women." Really? For low-income women, yes; but the poor can already get free contraceptives at any Planned Parenthood clinic. (Of course, plenty of women—at least those who are married or in steady relationships—also share birth control costs with their partners.)
As proof that the measure is needed, an article on the Center for American Progress website cites a 2009 survey by the Alan Guttmacher Institute . Eight percent of reproductive-age, sexually active women said they sometimes did not use birth control to save money; 18 percent of those taking the Pill reported "inconsistent use" for the same reason. (The last figure appears to be somewhat inflated: the definition of "inconsistent use" included "buying fewer pill packs at one time"—which would not diminish the Pill's effectiveness.)
But several caveats are in order. First of all, an accurate summary of the study would have specified "women with household income under $75,000 a year," to whom the survey pool was limited—excluding nearly a third of Americans. Obviously, birth control costs are not a concern for the affluent; but when the figures are reported as if they applied to the entire population, it gives the impression that the problem at lower income levels is more pervasive than it really is.
Secondly, many of the women who reported skimping on birth control were unemployed, which means that the problem would not be solved by requiring employer-provided insurance to cover birth control.
And finally, and most importantly: it is possible to give low-earning women access to affordable contraception without making free birth control a universal entitlement—even for those whose household income is well over $75,000.
Writing in The Huffington Post in praise of the Obama policy even before it was revised to exempt faith-based employers from paying directly for birth control coverage, Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, invoked the slogan of pro-choice rallies: "Not the church, not the state, women will decide their fate!" But Kaufman's idea of female autonomy apparently includes having both the state and the church pay for women's reproductive choices. Is it really a feminist argument that women, and their male partners, should never be responsible for even part of the expense of controlling their fertility?
This question is especially relevant because much of the rhetoric surrounding the birth control coverage mandate treats contraception as a societal good, a way to lessen the costly burden of unwanted pregnancies. It is a mindset that has not very feminist overtones of treating women's bodies as public property. Will the prevention of unplanned pregnancies come to be seen as something akin to a civic duty?
Some of the "war on religion" rhetoric emanating from the right has been over the top. When religious institutions perform extensive secular functions -- often with government subsidies -- and serve nonbelievers, they inevitably surrender part of their religious autonomy. (A Catholic hospital, for instance, cannot require that all babies born in its maternity wards be baptized into the Catholic faith.)
The issue is where the line should be drawn; and, for many Americans, that line is crossed when Catholic institutions such as hospitals, schools and charities—with a narrow exemption for churches—are forced to buy employee insurance policies that cover services prohibited by Catholic teachings. Catholics who use contraception, and Protestants who have little sympathy for the Catholic Church's anti-birth-control stance, may still be offended by the state dictating to the church in such matters.
President Obama has picked the wrong fight. Rather than expand birth control options for women, this policy may undermine already shaky support for the health reform legislation. Suddenly, predictions that ObamaCare will result in less freedom and more bureaucratic authority do not seem so outlandish.
Contributing Editor Cathy Young is a columnist at RealClearPolitics, where a version of this article originally appeared.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
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Yeah OK man that makes a lot of sense dude.
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Right: Every sperm is sacred.
Left: No it isn't!
Libertarian: Keystone beer sucks!
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Keystone beer can be a cost-effective alternative to sex with birth control. Maybe we can get the pope to chip in for a sixer?
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I can even bless the beer for you, my son, for I see that you are one to drink responsibly:
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V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.V. The Lord be with you.
R. And with thy spirit.Let us pray.
Bless, + O Lord, this creature beer, which thou hast deigned to produce from the fat of grain: that it may be a salutary remedy to the human race, and grant through the invocation of thy holy name; that, whoever shall drink it, may gain health in body and peace in soul. Through Christ our Lord.
R. Amen.
The beer is then sprinkled with holy water.
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I've seen them conduct sacred ceremonies such as the "Blessing of the Easter baskets", so this isn't too much of a stretch. What I'm wondering is if his holiness will stoop any any lower than Keystone (Natty Lite, perhaps)?
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Wait - that stuff is supposed to be beer?
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I prefer to think of such products as Heavy Water instead of Light Beer.
Now I need to go price a case of bottled water and see how it compares to cheap-ass beer.
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The beer is then sprinkled with holy water.
Noobs. I'm starting a brewery where the recipe STARTS with holy water.
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Good for drunken vampire hunts.
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True, raises your BHC.
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Bong hit capacity?
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I kneel at thy alter: http://www.churchbrew.com/
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Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
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Since healthcare is now a public good, it makes sense to regulate other activities that impact health, such as diet, exercise, and sleep patterns.
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birth control should only be available via prescription, with tight per-month rations. It's the only way to prevent the population explosion that will cause healthcare costs to skyrocket.
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"Newsflash: Rationing of contraceptives leads to more unprotected sex. Obama to announce his final solution tomorrow."
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Re: blacksmithking,
Since healthcare is now a public good
If you have someone providing it, then it cannot be a "public" good. -
Bullshit. If I open up a restaurant, it becomes a public good. The antismoking nannyfucks told me so.
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In Canuckistan, statists love to argue that Teh ROADZZ are a public good; therefore, we must have government.
That's what the argument has been reduced to up here. -
This is a great article. It amazes me that we think health insurance should cover health maintenance costs. If we had health insurance that was true "insurance" for emergencies, the cost of routine care would drop.
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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Insurance companies pay for "maintenance" because it is economically rational for them to do so.
Where we should be concerned about incentives is for-profit health providers and related industries.
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Can you buy a home policy while the house is on fire? That's what the ACA does to health insurance. Medical insurance long ago became a pre-payment scheme for medical care.
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Tony|2.13.12 @ 6:53PM|#
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Insurance companies pay for "maintenance" because it is economically rational for them to do so."
Shithead, there isn't a shred of evidence to this effect. If there were, there would be no worries about this:
"Where we should be concerned about incentives is for-profit health providers and related industries."
Shithead, try posting once without lying. -
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Insurance companies pay for "maintenance" because it is economically rational for them to do so."
Actually, you're completely wrong.
PolitiFact on Preventive Care.
"As a general notion, the idea that "preventive care … saves money, for families, for businesses, for government, for everybody" is no more true today than it was in 2009."
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The problem with that is that we're buying 10,000 pounds of prevention instead of six ounces of cure.
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IF IT SAVES JUST ONE LIFE IT'S WORTH IT WARBLEGARBLEFOOFERAH!!11oneoneone
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Why do you care, Tony? They're just filthy breeders, after all.
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Not true. Insurance companies pay for maintenance because they are mandated to do so out of the view that insurance is simply pre-paid medical care rather than what it actually is, insurance. The result is higher costs for everyone, and pricing the poor out of the insurance market.
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How about the profit that plastic surgeons and corrective eye surgeons make? These are for-profit operations that insurance does not cover, yet the cost of these services goes down as the quality improves, unlike medical services covered by insurance plans and government assistance. I wonder if there's a connection...
I can't wait for universal coverage to begin driving down healthcare costs.
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How about the profit that plastic surgeons and corrective eye surgeons make? These are for-profit operations that insurance does not cover, yet the cost of these services goes down as the quality improves, unlike medical services covered by insurance plans and government assistance. I wonder if there's a connection...
I can't wait for universal coverage to begin driving down healthcare costs.
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"It amazes me that we think health insurance should cover health maintenance costs. "
When Canada launched its socialized health care, it was originally intended to cover catastrophic illnesses. It now covers pretty much everything. If you guys think this birth-control debate is bad, wait 10-15 years; it'll be a complete fkn tragedy.
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The poor should be able to buy birth control with their EBT cards. Just to show how progressive I am, they should be able to get free Xanax and alcohol too.
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I usta dig that.
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I don't know if Cathy Young reads comments (please don't) but I would like to say once again how mad I am at Feministing that they called Cathy Young a "anti-feminist victim blamer" for speaking at the event Presumed Guilty? Rape, Feminism, and False Accusations.
I also would love to hear Mz. Young's perspective on such attacks, and what they say about the role of individualist feminism and feminists in the larger feminist movement.
Link to the post is here, BTW:
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I also agree that it treats women's bodies as property of the state, which is something that opponenets of the Catholic Church accuse the Church of doing.
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All of our bodies are property of the state. The only argument about this occurs when we get to the uterus. Everything else is utterly subject to state control.
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shut up you tainted whore
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shut up tainted whore
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"Stifle your slackened maw you drained and tainted bitch dog!"
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Things I learn from WI: German has no equivalent to firestorm. Which, given what happened to a lot of there cities, you'd think they would have.
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Feuersturm?
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shut up you tainted whore
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shut up you tainted whore
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[...]much of the rhetoric surrounding the birth control coverage mandate treats contraception as a societal good, a way to lessen the costly burden of unwanted pregnancies. It is a mindset that has not very feminist overtones of treating women's bodies as public property. Will the prevention of unplanned pregnancies come to be seen as something akin to a civic duty?
Of course, as long as the ones following this duty are the colored people. -
If the left continues to gain power, they will begin to consume themselves. In the never ending quest for power for power's sake, each of them will fall victim to the monster they create. It is kinda fun to watch.
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Yeah, but it consumes everyone else, too.
If I'm around, I'll be happy to watch. -
shut up you tainted whore
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shut up you tainted whore
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you are wasting as much space as 'tainted whore'. stop if you care.
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White Imbecile,
Your Spanish sucks.
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shut up you tainted whore
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shut up you tainted whore
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I think White Indian has gone beyond being our garden variety troll to pooping in reason’s flowerbeds. I know reason doesn't like to block people, but it's about time they get rid of this guy. Since he copies and pastes his replies verbatim all over the place (although using Google Translate to try to drown out the comments is a new low for him), whether relevant or not, I think it's to the point where this delusional maniac needs to be kicked out the door. It will feed his sense of being oppressed, but the only way to get rid of a psychopath is to completely eliminate contact.
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Oh no!
Don't ban him now....not when he's just getting entertaining!
At first his posts attempted to be "intellectual" and thoughtful while simultaneously oozing disdain for those lesser minds, those not ready to receive his revealed truth. His "authoritative" links to articles he himself had written in a feeble attempt at an appeal to authority.
Now his posts have degenerated into, "You're all racists"! In a few more weeks they will be little more than, "You're all poopy heads"!
Hooray for us...... reason.com wins again!
Now if we only do something about the hundreds of "Tony" sockpuppets out there real progress will have been made!
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shut up you tainted whore
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shut up you tainted whore
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shut up you tainted whore
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Ohhhhh, give me more. Your scorn only makes me stronger! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
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^^^Fuck this shit^^^
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All I can say is the site belongs to Reason.com.
So long as the owner is willing to accept the use of that site as a trash-bin, neither you nor I can do much about it. -
Well, is seems the owner decided providing a public trash-bin at their expense wasn't a good idea.
I agree. -
Nancy Kaufman, CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, invoked the slogan of pro-choice rallies: "Not the church, not the state, women will decide their fate!" But Kaufman's idea of female autonomy apparently includes having both the state and the church pay for women's reproductive choices.
Logical consistency is a Patriarchal imposition anyway. -
Good for you, Nancy.
By the way, did I mention that when the National Council of Jewish Women has a dinner, the caterer you hire must provide country ham to any guest on request, at no extra charge.
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bwahahahahahahahaha!
heh
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved.
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How times change. Old-time feminists wanted the government *out* of their wombs, this new breed wants it in them, vacuuming, scraping and flushing to beat the band.
And don't you dare try not paying for it, Bubba.
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Seems you've just added to the noise and weakened the signal.
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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Posting this until this shit gets resolved
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We must regulate this message board immediately! I'm mildly inconvenienced by all the lack of government here!
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hey fucko. regulation by private owners of private propepty is not the same... oh fuck it. you don't get it do you?
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+1
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Because what's tolerable about anarchy even on a fucking message board obviously makes sense as a way to govern society as a whole.
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But since everyone hates our griefer trolls, and they're too pathetic to be self-sufficient, it wouldn't be a problem for more than a few weeks in anarchist society.
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Re: White Imbecile,
We must regulate this message board immediately!
And you would still cry like a little wussy girl at the sight of badgers growling at you if in your beloved "original affluent society." -
to be fair, badgers are pretty damn scary.
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Suddenly, predictions that ObamaCare will result in less freedom and more bureaucratic authority do not seem so outlandish.
You seem to be implying that less freedom and more bureaucratic authority this is a bad thing.
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"Suddenly, predictions that ObamaCare will result in less freedom and more bureaucratic authority do not seem so outlandish."
Suddenly????
Who is it here that is always saying "Foreseeable consequences are not unexpected."
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Buy your own damn birth control.
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Buy your own damn everything.
ftfy.
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I want all of Tony's shit. I'll soak it in isopropyl alcohol for a week after I take it, but it's gotta be mine.
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Buy your own damn everything.
ftfy.
Fixed what asshole?
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This is why we can't have nice things!
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Here's a gift for you, if you want it: a new and improved version of your handle: AuH₂0
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Looks like they not only removed White Indian, but they also scraped him out of things. Wonder how long until he shows up in a mutated, stronger form. Maybe he'll get some GM pollen drifting into his system as he gambols and come back as a creature from a B-grade horror film.
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I'm not sure that was WI; no hare-brained comments referring to agriculture, etc.
Whoever it was, Reason.com finally got fed up and for good cause. -
Off topic, but related. Methotrexate is the latest drug that will be in short supply. Lovely. Fuck Obama. Fuck him like Vlad the impaler fucked Turks.
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Lemme guess:
It can be processed into, oh, something or other if you have all the other chems, right? -
I friends with Jay-Z
Can i count on your vote in 2012?
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the griefer (quiffer?) troll is certainly driving me away.
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And, at the risk of being on topic, I read on the internet today that the regulations were issued as originally written. So, what did the President 'promise'? Nothing but words.
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Next phase: compulsory supply of Malthusian Belts.
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Wow, everybody seems to be missing the point: These establishments take tax payer dollars. Since they do, they've allowed government regulation. It's the exact reason libertarians are so upset about universal health coverage, right? Because if you let the government start paying for stuff, you also have to let them start regulating stuff. I think their stance is ignorant. Birth Control pills are MEDICATION and they treat a variety of ills for women, as well as help them plan families. It's all easy for you to say, "Go to planned parenthood". Typical male response from an area with PP clinics, I'm guessing. Rural folks like me are stuck with Walgreen and online pharmacies.
In my opinion this amounts to the church accepting public dollars and using them to impose their religious dogma on employees. Get tax dollars out of it, and I feel they can do what they want.