Dive Brief:
- The Biden administration published Monday a proposed rule to overturn a Trump-era rule allowing employers to opt out of providing coverage of contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act due to moral objections.
- The existing regs expanded the category of employers eligible to opt out of contraceptive coverage to include effectively any employer with a religious or moral objection. The Biden administration said its proposal seeks “to further the government’s interest in promoting coverage for contraceptive services for all women, and in eliminating barriers to access, while respecting the religious objections of employers, health insurance issuers, and institutions of higher education to coverage of contraceptive services.”
- In addition to eliminating the moral exemption, the rule also would establish an “individual contraceptive arrangement” under which people enrolled in health plans or coverage sponsored, arranged or provided by entities objecting to contraceptive services could obtain those services at no cost and “without any involvement on the part of an objecting entity.” Stakeholders will be permitted to make public comments on the rule for a period ending 60 days after it is published on the Federal Register.
Dive Insight:
This is a developing story.
