Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Supreme Court Rules Some Employers Can Opt Out Of Health Law's Birth Control Mandate
The Supreme Court ruled broadly Wednesday in favor of the religious rights of employers in two cases that could leave more than 70,000 women without free contraception and tens of thousands of people with no way to sue for job discrimination.In both cases the court ruled 7-2, with two liberal justices joining conservatives in favor of the Trump administration and religious employers. (Gresko, 7/9)
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration acted within its authority when it expanded exemptions to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) requirement for employers to provide insurance coverage that includes contraception —  in a victory for Little Sisters of the Poor, the Catholic group that has been at the center of the national debate over the mandate. The court ruled 7-2 in favor of the Trump administration and the Catholic charity that cares for the elderly in two related disputes against Pennsylvania, which sued over the validity of a rule from the Trump administration that allowed religious-affiliated groups and some for-profit companies to opt-out of providing contraception coverage to employees. (Olson, Blitzer and Bream, 7/8)
The issue has been at the heart of an intense legal battle for nine years — first with the Obama administration sparring with religious organizations who said offering contraceptive care to their employees violated their beliefs, and then with the Trump administration broadening an exemption, angering women’s groups, health organizations and Democratic-led states. (Barnes, 7/8)
Kaiser Health News: High Court Allows Employers To Opt Out Of ACA’s Mandate On Birth Control Coverage
Wrote Justice Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion, “We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption.” (Rovner, 7/8)
The case now goes back to a lower court, which the Supreme Court ordered to lift an injunction that had prevented the implementation of the exception. Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer, two of the court's four liberals, did not join the majority opinion, but said they agreed with the conservatives to send the case back to the lower court. (Totenberg, 7/8)
