Tag Archives: Topic: Insurance

World Magazine: Matt Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)—a group representing several plaintiffs—says the issue is likely headed to the Supreme Court, and the outcome could affect religious freedoms for all Christians who believe their faith extends to every area of life: “The question becomes: Is Jesus Christ the Lord of all human life or not? And the federal government is saying He isn’t allowed to be.”

The Hill: The 73-page IRS regulation, and a fact sheet for the public, focus primarily on exemptions to the mandate — referred to as the law’s “shared responsibility” provision. | HHS Regs. | IRS Regs.

Ken Connor at LifeNews: Americans are living in an age, however, where the actions of government increasingly come into conflict with Christian values. As issues like abortion and gay marriage continue to insert themselves into the cultural milieu, Christians and other traditional-minded Americans – including those of other religious faiths – find themselves marginalized and even demonized. The moral authority increasingly rests with those who control the narrative: Big Government, Hollywood, and the mainstream media.

Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defending Freedom and Emaily Hardman of the Becket Fund apeared on Breakpoint with John Stonestreet. | MP3 audio 25:26 mins

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: In a friend-of-the-court brief, Americans United urged the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate, which requires most businesses to provide workers with a health insurance that includes no-cost birth control.

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by Courthouse News Service yesterday, a bill has been introduced in the Texas legislature that would give offsetting state tax refunds or credits to any business that pays a federal fine for refusing on conscience grounds to offer employees a health insurance plan that includes emergency contraception.

Michael Norton on AM 91 Point of Faith with Roy Hanschke and Denise Washington-Blomberg | Roy MP3 audio 8:02 mins

The Hill: Leading House Democrats wrote to the Health and Human Services Department on Friday to push for changes in rules about wellness programs in employers’ healthcare packages.

Carson Holloway at Public Discourse: If the HHS mandate is enforced, our government may provoke a schism in the American Catholic Church and will reduce faithful Catholics to second-class citizenship.

Baptist Press on Townhall: Matt Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — a group representing several plaintiffs — says the issue is likely headed to the Supreme Court, and the outcome could affect religious freedoms for all Christians who believe their faith extends to every area of life: “The question becomes: Is Jesus Christ the Lord of all human life or not? And the federal government is saying He isn’t allowed to be.” For the owners of Christian companies embroiled in one of the country’s most important religious liberty issues of the new century, faith isn’t an activity the government can sequester to Sundays. “You have to practice what you preach,” says Paul Griesedieck. “And you have to live your belief seven days a week.”

NY Times: The Alliance Defending Freedom — like Becket, a conservative group — has brought a case on behalf of Hercules Industries, a company in Denver that makes sheet metal products. It was granted an injunction by a judge in Colorado who said the religious values of the family owners were infringed by the law. “Two-thirds of the cases have had injunctions against Obamacare, and most are headed to courts of appeals,” said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the alliance. “It is clear that a substantial number of these cases will vindicate religious freedom over Obamacare. But it seems likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately resolve the dispute.”

AP: The legal challenges over religious freedom and the birth control coverage requirement in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul appear to be moving toward the U.S. Supreme Court . . . “The circuits have split. You’re getting different, conflicting interpretations of law, so the line of cases will have to go to the Supreme Court, `’ said Carl Esbeck, a professor at the University of Missouri Law School who specializes in religious liberty issues.

Religion Clause Blog: In Persico v. Sebelius, (WD PA, Jan. 22, 2013), a Pennsylvania federal district court dismissed on ripeness grounds a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate brought by the Catholic Diocese of Erie, Pennsylvania and two organizations affiliated with Pennsylvania Catholic Charities.

Religion Clause Blog: The complaint (full text) in Gilardi v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (D DC, filed 1/24/2013) challenges the application of the mandate to two related corporations, Freshway Foods and Fresway Logistics, Inc., which process, pack and ship fresh produce.

Roll Call: Abortion opponents rallying by the thousands Friday in Washington at the annual March for Life have lost some political battles lately but won a string of court victories, thanks in part to a diverse coalition challenging a contraception mandate in the health care overhaul . . . The white shoe law firm of Jones Day has also deployed a team of lawyers around the country, including a half-dozen in its Washington office, to defend Catholic dioceses and educational institutions suing the federal government. Other leading players representing the plaintiffs include the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defending Freedom and the American Center for Law and Justice.

Christian Post: The attorneys for Sioux Chief who submitted the suit include Kevin H. Theriot, Esq. of the Alliance Defending Freedom and Jonathan R. Whitehead, an “allied attorney” with the ADF. In a statement, Whitehead explained that the issue at hand with this and other similar suits is that of the American constitutional tradition of religious freedom. “Americans should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences wherever they are,” said Whitehead. “They have the God-given freedom to live and transact business according to their faith, and the First Amendment has always protected that. Forcing Americans to ignore their faith just to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.”

Robert Barnes at the Washington Post: Enjoy the festivities, President Obama, and while you’re on the grand stage Monday, it might be wise to make nice with the assembled Supreme Court justices. The next legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act is moving quickly to the high court, and bringing potent questions about religious freedom, gender equality and corporate “personhood.”

LifeNews: “Every American, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” says ADF lead counsel Matt Bowman. Bowman told LifeNews: “The cost of religious freedom for this family could be millions of dollars per year in fines that would cripple their business and potentially destroy jobs if the administration ultimately has its way. In appealing the district court’s order that halted the mandate against Hercules, the administration sent a clear message that it wants to force families to abandon their faith in order to earn a living. That’s the opposite of religious freedom.”

Lansing State Journal: Lawmakers have reintroduced a proposed overhaul of the state’s largest health insurer, this time without the “objectionable language” that led Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to veto the first package that cleared the Legislature last month.

Matt Bowman on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Sioux Chief Manufacturing suit and others. | MP3 audio 5:23 mins

Christian Post: Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish. Regrettably, the administration does not want religious freedom to stand in the way of imposing ObamaCare,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman commented in an email to The Christian Post.

One News Now: “The Constitution doesn’t allow the government to decide what faith is, who the faithful are, or even where they exercise that faith,” contends ADF attorney Kevin Theriot. “It’s not the job of Washington bureaucrats to confine faith to inside homes or inside churches. Faith and religious freedom [are] God-given, not government-driven.”

MyFoxNY.com: A southwestern Pennsylvania hospital will stop delivering babies after March 31 because its obstetricians are either leaving or refocusing their practices, and because hospital officials believe they can’t afford it based on projected reimbursements under looming federal health care reforms.

Life News: “Americans should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences wherever they are,” said lead counsel Jonathan R. Whitehead, one of nearly 2,200 allied attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom. “They have the God-given freedom to live and transact business according to their faith, and the First Amendment has always protected that. Forcing Americans to ignore their faith just to earn a living is unprecedented, unnecessary, and unconstitutional.”

Christian Post:
“Americans should be free to honor God and abide by their consciences at work, home, and church,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Washington politicians can’t confine our faith to the four walls of our homes and churches alone. Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. The Obama administration’s attacks on faith and business prove that it doesn’t respect either one.”. . . “It is quite a challenge to keep track of the large and growing number of legal challenges to the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate,” ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor states in the group’s scorecard post on its website. “Religious organizations, for-profit businesses, and individuals have filed over 40 cases, attempting to protect their deeply held religious beliefs and exercise from the unconstitutional dictates of the federal government.”

LifeNews: President Barack Obama declared today Religious Freedom Day as his administration is working overtime to deny religious freedom to pro-life Americans who do not want their companies, schools or businesses to pay for drugs that may cause abortions.

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman emailed LifeNews regarding the decision of the Obama administration Tuesday to continue trying to force the Bible publisher to act contrary to its religious beliefs in Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish. Regrettably, the administration does not want religious freedom to stand in the way of imposing ObamaCare. The district court rightly halted ObamaCare’s abortion pill mandate against Tyndale House, but the administration continues to argue that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is startling. We will continue to argue on appeal that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Bloomberg: Tyndale argues the law violates the religious freedoms of the company and its owners, “who are committed to biblical principles including the belief that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God from the moment of their conception.” “It’s disturbing that the government would appeal in order to argue that a Bible publisher is not religious,” Matthew Bowman, a lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Tyndale and other businesses challenging the health care law.

Business Week: “It’s disturbing that the government would appeal in order to argue that a Bible publisher is not religious,” Matthew Bowman, a lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Tyndale and other businesses challenging the health care law.

Citizen Link: Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the suit on behalf of Sioux Chief Manufacturing, a Catholic-owned business in Peculiar, Mo. “Americans should be free to honor God and live according to their consciences wherever they are,” said ADF Lead Counsel Jonathan Whitehead. “They have God-given freedom to live and transact business according to their faith, and the First Amendment has always protected that.”

One News Now: Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, says the government should not force Tyndale House Publishers to violate its Christian beliefs — and that it should be eligible for a religious exemption from providing contraceptives it believes cause abortion. “What [the administration is] doing in this appeal is they are arguing that Bible publishers are not even free to do business according to the book that they publish,” says the attorney. “The administration is arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t even religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.” [more]

Religion Clause Blog: The complaint (full text) in Sioux Chief Mfg. Co., Inc. v . Sebelius, (WD MO, filed 1/14/2013), contends that the mandate violates plaintiffs’ rights under the 1st and 5th Amendments, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act.  Alliance Defending Freedom issued a press release announcing the filing of the case.

“For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is startling. We will continue to argue on appeal that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Judge Halts Illinois Mandate of Contraceptives and Abortifacients Coverage in HHS Lawsuit Thomas More Society Says Triune Health Group’s Religious Liberty Protected WHEATON, Ill., Jan. 15, 2013 / Today, Judge Terence M. Sheen of the DuPage County Circuit Court granted …

Washington Post: Regulators in Oregon and California have quietly directed some health insurance companies to stop denying coverage for transgender patients because of their gender identity.

LifeNews: Enroll America, a newly formed advocacy group run by supporters of Obamacare, announced a new campaign today to sign up people for the government-run health care plan that contains no safeguards preventing taxpayer dollars from paying for abortions or going to abortion companies like Planned Parenthood.

Breakpoint Radio (links to audio – 25:30 mins): John Stonestreet interviews Matt Bowman and Emily Hardman, two experts on the front line of the fight for religious liberty.

AP: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Monday she plans to push for an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program under the federal health care law, a surprising decision that could have an impact on other Republican governors weighing a similar decision.

A Missouri-based plumbing products manufacturer is the latest company to challenge the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate in court.

Ed Whelan at National Review: Last Friday, in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, federal district judge Mitchell S. Goldberg joined the minority of courts that have denied injunctive relief to the owners of for-profit businesses that have religious objections to complying with the HHS mandate.

San Francisco Chronicle: In the most important ruling to date, a federal appeals court in Chicago has blocked enforcement of the mandate against an employer – not a church or a church-affiliated hospital or university, but an Illinois construction company whose principal owners, a married couple, are devout Catholics.

Religion Clause Blog: In Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, (ED PA, Jan 11, 2013), a Pennsylvania federal district court refused to issue a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage Mandate in a suit brought by a small wood specialties manufacturing company and its five Mennonite Christian owners (the Hahn family).

Religion Clause Blog: As reported by CNN, in statement from its general counsel Hobby Lobby says it has shifted the beginning of its health care plan year, thus delaying for several months the requirement that it comply with the Women’s Preventive Services coverage mandate.

Amidst a flurry of activity this month in Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuits against President Obama’s abortion pill mandate, the administration’s record in cases litigated so far stands at 10 losses and only four wins.

The Hill: U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller wrote Monday that Notre Dame’s claims of injury are not ripe and that the school does not have standing to bring them.

AP: Kansas’ law that restricts private health insurance coverage for abortions will go to trial to resolve whether it poses a substantial obstacle to women seeking to end pregnancies, a federal judge ruled Monday.

Religion Clause Blog: In Triune Health Group, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (ND IL, Jan. 3, 2012), an Illinois federal district court granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a for-profit company that that facilitates re-entry of injured workers into the workforce

LifeNews: The letter from Hobby Lobby CEO David Green that LifeNews received follows . . .

Washington Times: The GOP-led states conditionally approved are Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. Idaho and Utah have Republican governors and legislatures. Nevada and New Mexico have GOP governors, but Democrats control their legislatures.

AP: A look at the routes states are taking to implement President Barack Obama’s health care law, including health insurance exchanges and expansion of Medicaid coverage, along with the number of people in each state who don’t have health insurance:

Melissa Moschella at Public Discourse: Are judges more competent to determine what a particular religion requires or forbids than that religion’s own leaders or adherents? Most would think not. Yet that’s what two of the recent rulings related to the Health and Human Services contraception, sterilization, and abortion-drug mandate seem to claim.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: On Dec. 28, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that the HHS Mandate violates this family’s religious liberty as guaranteed by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Kathleen Sebelius’ mandate could be argued to violate the First Amendment as well, but if a court can resolve a case by looking to a statute, it will avoid issuing an opinion regarding constitutional issues. The Seventh Circuit has issued an injunction while the appeal in this case, Korte v. Sebelius, is pending.

Ed Whelan reports at National Review Bench Memos.

Constitution Center: Lyle Denniston looks at one company’s claim it has religious rights that exempt it from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement for free birth-control services.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: Owners of secular businesses don’t have the right to tailor employee health care plans to meet the owners’ religious beliefs, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and other groups have told a federal appeals court. Americans United and three other groups on Friday filed a friend-of-the-court brief before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case O’Brien v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Alliance Defending Freedom at LifeNews: As we look back on the past year, we conclude that 2012 is a year that will go down in infamy. For the first time in history, the government has attempted to force Americans to pay for the ending of human life – even if abortion violates their religious beliefs.

Religion Clause Blog: In Sharpe Holdings, Inc. v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, (ED MO, Dec. 31, 2012), a Missouri federal magistrate judge issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate to require a for-profit dairy farming and cheese making business to cover abortifacient devices ( Plan B, Ella and copper IUDs) and related counseling.

Christian Newswire: Attorneys for Jubilee Campaign’s Law of Life Project and Thomas More Society await decisions by federal and state courts on their motions for preliminary injunction to stop the State of Illinois and the Federal Government from imposing confiscatory fines and other legal sanctions on a Roman Catholic health management company for exercising their state and federal free exercise of religion rights not to be forced to pay for abortifacients, sterilization, contraception and the related counseling now being imposed upon non-exempt businesses by state and federal law.

Religion Clause Blog: Now in Priests for Life v. Sebelius, (ED NY, Dec. 21, 2012), the parties have filed a stipulation in a New York federal district court agreeing that Priests for Life qualifies for the temporary enforcement safe harbor.

Religion Clause Blog: Yesterday in Grote Industries, LLC v. Sebelius, (SD IN, Dec. 27, 2012), an Indiana federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to a for-profit business that manufactures vehicle safety systems and its Catholic owners who claim that their religious liberty rights are infringed by the contraceptive coverage mandate under the Affordable Care Act.

AP: A federal judge has ruled a property management company owned by the founder of Domino’s Pizza doesn’t have to immediately implement mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.

Religion Clause Blog: In Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, (ED PA, Dec. 28, 2012), a Pennsylvania federal district court issued a 14-day temporary restraining order barring enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate against a cabinet and wood specialties company whose Mennonite

How Appealing links to reports on the ruling and the opinion in Pickup v. Brown. Liberty Counsel press release: Ninth Circut Court of Appeals Blocks California’s Ban on Change Therapy

How Appealing reports on the ruling in Korte v. Sebelius.

Juleanna Glover at New York Times: TWO weeks ago, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016, proposed making oral contraceptives available “over the counter.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Blog: With the implementation of ObamaCare, the government has become the dictator of conscience. Because of the abortion pill mandate, people must either comply and violate their religious beliefs, or resist and pay the penalty for their faith.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: Now that Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied Hobby Lobby’s application for an emergency injunction protecting them from Obamacare’s HHS Mandate on abortion and birth control, Hobby Lobby has decided to defy the federal government to remain true to their religious beliefs, at enormous risk and financial cost.

Washington Times: An attorney for Hobby Lobby Stores said Thursday that the arts-and-crafts chain plans to defy a federal mandate requiring it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill, despite risking potential fines of up to $1.3 million per day.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: Becket’s loss thus far in this case is in contrast with the major victory Becket won last week in another federal appeals court, where (as we rightly predicted) the D.C. Circuit issued an injunction forbidding HHS from enforcing its regulation as currently written against Christian colleges. It’s also in contrast with early court victories in some of the other lawsuits by the Alliance Defending Freedom, among others.

Molly Worthen at the New York Times: Alan Sears, president of the legal advocacy organization Alliance Defending Freedom, sees an unprecedented threat to religious liberty in the harsh fines facing employers who refuse to cover contraception in their insurance programs. “It is a death penalty. It is a radical change,” he told me. “It’s one thing when you’re debating about public space, but it’s another when you say, if you don’t surrender your conscience, you’re out of business.” . . . These legal efforts are less an attempt to redefine religious liberty than a campaign to preserve Christians’ historic right to police the boundary between secular principles and religious beliefs. Only now that conservative Christians have less control over organs of public power, they cannot rely on the political process. Now that the “nones” are declaring themselves, and more Americans — including many Christians — see birth control as a medical necessity rather than a sin, Mr. Sears sees a stark course of action for the Catholic and evangelical business owners he represents: “Litigation is all that our clients have.” Their problem, however, is more fundamental than legal precedent. Their problem is that America’s Christian consensus is fragmenting. We are left groping for something far messier: an evolving, this-worldly, compromise.

DFW Catholic: “Every American should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “The government shouldn’t punish people of faith for following their beliefs when making decisions for themselves or their organizations. That’s why this lawsuit should not be casually dismissed as the Obama administration would like to see happen.” “This mandate leaves religious employers with no true choice: either comply and abandon your religious freedom and conscience, or resist and be punished,” said allied attorney and co-counsel Mike Johnson, dean of Louisiana College’s Pressler School of Law. “It is a shame that the Obama administration is opposing religious freedom rather than supporting it.”

Ed Whelan at National Review: In five of seven cases, the owners of for-profit businesses have obtained injunctive relief against the HHS mandate. Of the two cases that have gone wrong, I’ve already discussed the Tenth Circuit’s mess-up yesterday in the Hobby Lobby case. Here I’ll briefly address the adverse ruling a week ago in Korte v. U.S. Dep’t of HHS.

Religion Clause Blog: However, in American Pulverizer Co. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (WD MO, Dec. 20, 2012), a Missouri federal district court granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the contraceptive coverage mandate in a challenge filed by a group of metal recycling businesses owned by Evangelical Christians Paul and Henry Griesediek . . .

Matt Bowman at Life News: In the weeks before Christmas, many Christians read about John the Baptist in the Gospel of Luke. They see that ordinary people came asking John if it was possible for them, too, to prepare the way for the Lord. Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers came as well, asking, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

National Catholic Register: Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, a coalition of Christian attorneys formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, told the Register that the Dec. 18 ruling shows that religious nonprofits have standing “to protect themselves from bureaucrats that are attacking their religious freedom.” “It shows that federal bureaucrats who are trying to pick and choose what faith is and who can practice faith cannot do so without oversight to ensure they don’t trample on religious freedom,” said Bowman.