Contraception mandate troublesome

Coverage mandates are typical causes of the high cost of health insurance. For instance, most states require policies to include coverage for alcohol or substance abuse rehabilitation, mammography screenings, or diabetic supplies. Other types of mandates include hearing aids for minors, in vitro fertilization, and hospice care.

These mandates drive up the prices of premiums because they transfer to the insurance company costs that had been paid by consumers previously.

A coverage mandate recently approved by the federal government, however, will have an impact beyond cost: It will threaten the lives of unborn children.

The mandate requires insurance programs to include FDA-approved birth control, which LifeNews.com reports includes the “morning-after” pill or the “ella drug,” a contraceptive that can kill an embryo even after it implants in the uterus.

Health plans will be required to include the coverage by 2013, although an exemption of types has been made for religious institutions, meaning they will not have to offer such coverage to their employees if they find it morally objectionable.

But what about workers for secular companies which will be required to include the “emergency contraception” coverage in their policies? That means that those workers will in effect be forced to pay, through their premiums, for provision of that contraception, just as they are often forced to pay for abortion when it is covered by their health insurance.

Such mandates are another reason to be grateful for health care sharing ministries. Since they are not health insurance, they are not required to provide for such procedures—and they don’t. Samaritan Ministries doesn’t share needs related to abortion or contraception. You can be assured that when you send a share to another Samaritan member, it isn’t going to fund an act that the Church considers to be murder.

It’s also important for Samaritan members to let their Christian friends who have health insurance know about these mandates and tell them that it’s time to join Samaritan so that in the process of handling their health care needs they are not forced to pay for the deaths of newly conceived children.