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The Supreme Court will not require a religiously affiliated nursing home and more than 400 associated Catholic organizations to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, at least for now.
But the injunction, issued Jan. 24, sheds little light on how the high court will ultimately rule on whether the ACA’s requirement for employer health insurance policies to cover contraceptives is constitutional or a violation of religious freedom. That’s because the court’s order is very narrow and relates only to the particular circumstances of the Mullen Home for the Aged, a Denver nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, and other Catholic organizations that receive health benefits through the Christian Brothers religious order.
The Supreme Court said that the groups do not have to comply with the ACA mandate as long as they write a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services stating that they are "nonprofit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services." That letter would prevent the government from levying fines on the organizations pending the outcome of the class action lawsuit currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
The Supreme Court will be tackling some of the larger issues of constitutionality and religious freedom in March, when it hears arguments in the case of private companies whose owners have a moral objection to providing contraceptives. Oral arguments are set to begin on March 25 in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius.
mschneider@frontlinemedcom.com
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