A school operated by a religious group offers its students a health plan that doesn’t meet federal standards—in part because it does not cover most birth control expenses. The kicker is, the university doesn’t object to Obamacare based on religious beliefs, but rather on personal choice.
However, religious objections or not, students at Brigham Young University still may face fines at tax time for failing to acquire health insurance that meets minimum federal standards.
It’s an odd situation, given the religion-based battles over birth control requirements in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. One more example of the complexities of rolling out an plan to ensure every American has health insurance.
The Washington Times reported that the university is sticking by its refusal to include most birth control expenses in its student health coverage. It refused the offer of an extension to comply with the act; the extension ended Aug. 31, the Times reported, with no compliance action by BYU.
Personal choice is simply not up for discussion in Salt Lake City, said BYU spokesman Todd Hollingshead. “That’s not something that we’re going to weigh in on and be involved in as an individual choice.”
Some students may qualify for exemptions from the fines, the Times said, but most apparently will face fines if they stay with the school’s coverage.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
