Court rejects new cases on birth control coverage
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has turned away an early look at a challenge by religiously affiliated not-for-profit groups to the new health care law’s provision on birth control coverage.
Lawsuits filed by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and others are making their way through the courts. The justices on Monday declined to weigh in on them before any federal appeals court has reached a final decision.
The Obama administration has devised a compromise to the law’s requirement that contraception be included in health plans’ preventive services for women. The compromise attempts to create a buffer for religiously affiliated hospitals, universities and social service groups that oppose birth control. Their insurers or the health plan’s outside administrator would pay for birth control coverage and creates a way to reimburse them.