I cannot reply to comments, so this is for Tom.
You say that government has a role in regulation and labeling of product and I agree. But it doesn’t mandate the provision of free orange juice.
Insurance companies agree that contraception is cheaper than pregnancy. It may even be in their best interests to facilitate that cost savings by providing free product – but what about the precedent being set of the Executive being allowed to dictate to private industry that it must provide free product? Can/will that extend to other industries?
You say that the insurance companies would be able to compensate by charging higher premium – show me where that is in the compromise. In fact, the Executive has explicitly shifted the cost burden FROM the faith based employer AND the employee ONTO the private business. The whole point of the compromise is that the employer would NOT have to pay as it violates their conscience, and the employee would not have to pay as it violates the Sparkly Free Ethos of the new giveaway. And except for individual life/health politices, companies CANNOT charge more for a member of a health census that smokes, drives race cars, etc., and the carrier by law cannot disclose these behaviors. I was once pressured by a supermarket chain to reveal which of their employees had a heart condition that prevented them from purchasing a low cost plan – I explained that while the company could ask the questions to assess the risk/reward during underwriting, they could not tell the employer due to privacy laws but had to accept or reject the entire group and this person’s condition made it likely that there would be no profit on the plan.
As far as the argument goes about the Administration being able to require this because the cost of health insurance is deductible and therefore they provide a ‘subsidy’ – will they also be able to decide if you can remodel your kitchen because of the home mortgage deduction? Or announce that you cannot have more children because you are abusing the tax credit?
The whole ‘half the electorate’ thing? How many of those females are fertile, of child-bearing age, and active heterosexuals? You lose about half of all females when you look at it like that, let alone those who choose not to use contraception for health and religious reasons. BTW – those polls about ‘98%’ using? That’s 98% of Catholics, not the female population overall. As far as cost goes – up until 10 years ago, MOST women paid 100% out of pocket in Democrat-controlled Mass., for the entirety of their reproductive lives. That was why Planned Parenthood came into being, lack of health insurance coverage. Progressive men are a little late to the game with their support.
IMO, the Administration deliberately chose a divisive issue with red-herring dead ends about conscience and faith in order to make this power grab. And I will ask you what I always ask when progressives go on about the end justifying the means – how will you feel when President Cheney gets to make these mandates?
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From KB – ‘The FDA does what exactly?’ It regulates drugs for content and safety, just like Tom’s Ag Dept. regulates the orange juice. How does that translate into free product?
using an inferior browser, you’d be able to reply to comments.
That is all. 😀
I did not say that “the insurance companies would be able to compensate by charging higher premium” for mandated contraceptive coverage. In fact, I said just the opposite. Contraceptive coverage saves money for the insurer. I said that insurance companies should be able to charge higher premiums for employers that block contraceptive coverage (if they are allowed to).
You write (emphasis mine):
But we are talking about health policies. When a health insurer underwrites a group plan for an employer, that employer most certainly does have to disclose such things, and the resulting premium is higher. This has been true for decades.
Regarding “The whole ‘half the electorate’ thing”, half the electorate is women. The pill is often prescribed for non-fertile women for non-reproductive reasons. Nothing in the mandate forces women to use contraceptives, whatever their reproductive status, gender preference, or age (although I did a raise a question in that regard). No matter how rapidly you wave your hands, the costs of unintended pregnancy fall overwhelmingly on women, and women are half the electorate.
The rest of your comment is a rant about arguments that I haven’t made.
The only divisive “red herring” that anybody has injected in this absurd debate is the lie that the government is attacking religion — at least you haven’t made that ridiculous claim … yet.
Oh, and please … try to find a working browser 🙂
I’ve tried on multiple occasions without success to download Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
Maybe see if you can get some help with it.
For both browsers, I just click on the “download Firefox link“, download, and install it. If you are on a windows system, you may have to do the usual Keystone Cops routine with anti-virus, “security” provisions, and so on.
There are a number of sites that can provide guidance for specific questions.
The FDA does what exactly?
does what exactly?
(State law requires privately owned utilities to acquire energy-efficiency resources that cost less than what these resources save consumers. Better than ‘free” because (like contraception) it saves money.)
So much indignant bluster used to mask a policy of favoring a particular religion in a non-religious sphere. Note the “oppressed:” You don’t like contraception? Don’t use it.
“I was steadfastly opposed to gay marriage until I realized that I did not have to do it myself.”
Our favorite Porcupine was very fond of deriding anyone attaching even a whiff of blame to the previous President. However, s/he seems to have contracted the disease that sees everything Obama does as ipso facto wrong. Suddenly, stuff that was commonplace a few years ago with a Republican chief executive represents executive encroachment, even tyranny, with a “Democrat” President.
Such is the epidemic of self-deception among even the best modern Republicans.
“How does that translate into free product?” you ask.
You’re telling me insurance is free? Very witty.