Contraceptive Mandate
Al Ritter
There are so many facets to this issue that it begs further scrutiny. First you have an Administration that thought they would extend to female citizens the economic advantage of not having to pay for contraceptives out of their pocket. The administration knew that the largest portion of Catholic women defy the church and use contraceptives anyway, so this could be a feather in their hat if they supplied them with something for “free.”
Unfortunately nothing in this world is “free,” someone always has to bear the cost, especially when it involves a product produced by a private company. This is no debate on this, it is a fact of life. Let’s look at an actuarial chart of all insurance companies. All insurance companies supply a service based on mandates by governments whether they be federal or state. The rates are based on what services the government deems necessary. When you add a mandate or a service, that service is figured into the entire pool which the annual rate is determined from. More services or mandates equal higher cost. This is not up for debate either it is a fact of life.
Mandates are voted on by congress, not demanded by Presidents. There is no legal precedence for President Obama to keep demanding services and decisions based on his social guilt. This is a country of laws, and Obama constantly denies and ignores them based on some sort of idea of social injustice.
It is my opinion that this is one major issue that the Obama Administration has misjudged. He is now being attacked by both sides on his waffling of the issue. Sebelius has already told Obama that the issuance of contraceptives will be a major cost to health insurance, but Obama has ignored that advice.
Now let’s consider the religious side of it for a moment. Religious leaders from all religions and backgrounds testified on Capitol Hill yesterday to put their support behind the Catholic Church, that this mandate violates the first amendment, whether they believe the same way about contraceptives or not.
Not only is this a first amendment violation, it violates the Supreme Court ruling of the separation of church and state. You may view this from many different angles, but the underlying argument from the left is that a “woman has a right to choose.” That is all well and good and the law is on their side with that for now.
This mandate is strictly about “who pays” and the answer is we all do through increased health care costs at a time when they are increasing at a rate faster than our salaries.
