HEALTHCARE/HHS/OBAMACARE(ACA)/RELIGION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday [10-6-17] eviscerated requirements under the Obamacare law that employers provide insurance to cover women’s birth control, keeping a campaign pledge that pleased his conservative Christian supporters.
Administration officials said two new federal rules will let any non-profit or for-profit entity make religious or moral objections to obtain an exemption from the law’s contraception mandate. The changes also let publicly traded companies obtain a religious exemption.
The move drew fire from reproductive rights advocates and praise from a conservative Christian activists. California’s Democratic attorney general pledged to fight to protect the mandate from circumvention. It remained unclear how many women would lose contraception coverage and which companies would use the exemptions…
Trump, who criticized the birth control mandate in last year’s election campaign, and won strong support from conservative Christian voters. The Republican president signed an executive order in May asking for rules that would allow religious groups to deny their employees insurance coverage for services they oppose on religious grounds.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday moved to broaden those narrow religious exemptions to include an exception ‘on the basis of moral conviction’ for non-profit and for-profit companies.”
-Sarah N. Lynch and Caroline Humer, “Trump eviscerates health insurance birth control mandate,” Reuters, Oct.6, 2017 08:19am