The Catholic Health Association called HHS' compromises on mandatory contraception coverage for religious and religiously-affiliated institutions "substantial progress," a more satisfied tone than the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops took in their response last week when they said the changes "fall short."
HHS exempted eligible religious organizations from having to pay for contraception coverage for their employees' health plans, shifting the responsibility instead onto insurance companies themselves, which would provide such coverage at no cost to the employees.
"This is a great relief to our members and many others," wrote Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the CHA. Sister Keehan has long supported President Barack Obama's healthcare agenda, but fought the health law's contraception coverage mandate. After the Obama administration in January 2012 refused to exempt all health plans offered by religiously-affiliated institutions such as Catholic hospitals from the mandate, she wrote a five-page letter to CMS in June 2012 saying CHA remained "deeply concerned" and had previously "objected strenuously to the inappropriately narrow definition."
In CHA's latest response, Sister Keehan noted the difference in tone from the USCCB's earlier statements.
"CHA is also aware that the issues that we have as a ministry are narrower than the broader concerns of the Bishops' Conference. Our mutual efforts to resolve the issues affecting our ministries are our contribution to the overall process," she wrote.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Sister Carol Keehan spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and participated in the cross-country "Nuns on the Bus" media campaign to promote progressive social reforms. In fact, Sister Keehan was not involved in either program. Rather, Sister Simone Campbell led the bus tour and spoke at the convention.
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HHS exempted eligible religious organizations from having to pay for contraception coverage for their employees' health plans, shifting the responsibility instead onto insurance companies themselves, which would provide such coverage at no cost to the employees.
"This is a great relief to our members and many others," wrote Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the CHA. Sister Keehan has long supported President Barack Obama's healthcare agenda, but fought the health law's contraception coverage mandate. After the Obama administration in January 2012 refused to exempt all health plans offered by religiously-affiliated institutions such as Catholic hospitals from the mandate, she wrote a five-page letter to CMS in June 2012 saying CHA remained "deeply concerned" and had previously "objected strenuously to the inappropriately narrow definition."
In CHA's latest response, Sister Keehan noted the difference in tone from the USCCB's earlier statements.
"CHA is also aware that the issues that we have as a ministry are narrower than the broader concerns of the Bishops' Conference. Our mutual efforts to resolve the issues affecting our ministries are our contribution to the overall process," she wrote.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Sister Carol Keehan spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention and participated in the cross-country "Nuns on the Bus" media campaign to promote progressive social reforms. In fact, Sister Keehan was not involved in either program. Rather, Sister Simone Campbell led the bus tour and spoke at the convention.
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