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Subscribe to RSSThe Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio will drop health insurance coverage for students this fall rather than comply with a federal mandate that its plan provide free birth control.
University officials on Tuesday also cited rising insurance costs for their decision to end student health coverage.
“The Obama Administration has mandated that all health insurance plans must cover ‘women’s health services’ including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing medications as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),” according to a university statement. “Up to this time, Franciscan University has specifically excluded these services and products from its student health insurance policy, and we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.”
“Additionally, the PPACA increased the mandated maximum coverage amount for student policies to $100,000 for the 2012-13 school year, which would effectively double your premium cost for the policy in fall 2012, with the expectation of further increases in the future,” the statement said.
The university will no longer require its undergraduates to carry insurance, according to the statement. "We didn't want to put them in a situation where they would have to violate their conscience," Michael Hernon, a vice president at Franciscan University, told Reuters.
Fewer than 200 students at the campus in southeast Ohio had been buying insurance from the university, Hernon told Reuters. Franciscan University has nearly 2,800 students.
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Earlier this year, the Franciscan was among 18 Catholic colleges in a letter-writing campaign, calling for President Barack Obama to change the government's mandate for religious institutions to offer preventative care services, including contraceptives. Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the rule.
Several Catholic and evangelical Christian universities have challenged the contraceptive mandate in court. Those cases have not yet come to trial. Hernon told Reuters that the university is weighing a lawsuit.
With the new health insurance year set to start in August, however, administrators at Franciscan University chose not to wait for the court's ruling. In addition to the contraception mandate, they said they were concerned that premiums for the student plan would rise because the Affordable Care Act also mandates other specific services be covered.
So the bulletin advised students that they should begin to figure out their insurance plans.
"We encourage you to decide how you are going to provide for accidents or illnesses requiring visits to physicians, health clinics, or the hospital emergency room while you are a student here," the announcement said.
The university will maintain its health insurance plan for faculty, for now. That plan does not cover birth control. Hernon said administrators are "looking at all the options" as they decide how, or whether, to continue the plan in the future if the contraceptive mandate is upheld.
The university, which was founded 60 years ago to serve World War Two veterans, is ranked as one of the top-tier private colleges in the Midwest. It boasts on its website that its academics and culture are "grounded in a passionately Catholic faith tradition."
Msnbc.com's Sevil Omer and Reuters' Stephanie Simon contributed to this report.
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Let's hope it eliminates viagra for the priests.
Congratulations! You are the one millionth customer that had made the same joke! Your prize?? A tip: get some new material.
I'm delighted that some organization will stand up to the socialization pressure of obamaland and its oppressive political correctness which demands everyone think alike, move alike, like alike. I laud the Catholics for standing up for their opinions, irrespective of the monsters in this comment column who are clearly hate mongers. How opinionated and derogatory can you get?
Thor - as opinionated and derogatory as you!
The politically correct are the right-wing social engineers who want Old Testament punishment for anybody who don't agree with them.
Thor? Get a grip. WE are not the hate-mongers...places like this university are actors against women and the War On Women is being promulgated by institutions like them, and ignorant people such as yourself.z
I wonder if they kept their liability insurance for sexual misconduct committed by those not so priestly types who just might be employed by their very Catholic environment?
The problem of the ACA is that too many of the provisions have been delayed in implementation so that insurance companies can keep escalating costs before the cost controls take effect. Like most everything else President Obama has done, the disingenous religious right-wing complain first and don't bother with the facts. The Franciscans would rather see a student die than provide health care - not very Christian. The good samaratan only provided care to the injured man because he checked first if he had the politically correct type of health insurance. Jesus says: "Stone the evil doers. Don't forgive liberals. Burn the heathen at the stake and you you will be welcome in Heaven."
To all of you men who don't support birth control coverage mandates for religious organizations, I have a few questions for you:
1. Do you also believe - and practice - the abstinence rule? (Of course not)
2. Do you also believe that if you "can't get it up" it's God's mandate and you should just deal with it? (No - that's why Viagra is covered)
3. Do you stick around and support (emotionally as well as financially) any child you help create? (Naturally not - it's the woman's job to prevent pregnancies and you had nothing to do with it)
If you kept you pants on, 'birth control' would only need to be covered for medical reasons because it wouldn't be needed to control births. I was on birth control for 27 years; my medical problems were only solved by a hysterectomy. My periods were a living hell. How would you like it if someone kicked you in the balls every half-hour for four days? That wouldn't even begin to cover the other problems like cysts, migraines, endometriosis, and so on.
Follow the logic of your comments and practice birth control yourselves - practice abstinence.
The Constitution does not protect religious institutions (which are corporations), but the rights of the individual to be free to excercise their conscience. This political battle by the conservative religious right is another imposition of corporate powers replacing individual rights. So long as we keep seeing the conservatives framing corporations as persons, we will continually see personal freedom eroded in America. The church has no claim to Constitutional rights intended to protect individual conscience. Conservatism has the goal of removing the rights and freedoms of individuals, and imposing the powers of corporations to subjugate individuals to the elites that own and control the corporations. Churches are nothing more than corporate oppressors of human conscience. Time to end the tax exemption of another long standing privileged elite.
Religious freedom is a right of the people, not a church corporation. This is all about taking away individual rights and replacing personal liberties with corporations as persons. The church is a corporation that brainwashes its members. At some point the people of this country, including church going members have to say no more to the infringement of their rights by corporate and religious power.
Business has been dropping insurance for the past 10-12 years, nothing to do with obama, as some want us to believe. Health care costs have been out of control for decades, and continue to climb. The fact is that private owned health care companies profit from the high cost of providing insurance to the people of this country. Just like the banks are out of control, so are the insurance companies, they reap the profits while the rest of us suffer. If you want proof of how profitable the banks and insurance companies are, just observe the beautiful, new buildings that they operate out of. State of the art, they are. Paid for by our hard earned dollars, and the people who work for them are enjoying the benefits too. Do you think the owners and stockholders of these insurance giants are going to try to find a way to cut the cost to us?
Come on now, this is capitalism, freedom to grow and prosper. The
AmericanRepublican way!When is the Catholic Church going to start paying taxes on all of their properties and income. When they do that then they can have a voice. Until they pay taxes they should just pray and site 10 Hale Marries and 20 Our Fathers.
It's actually called a Hail Mary. Make sure you spell your insults correctly.
The First Amendment allows for the Separation of church and state,to create churches affiliated with hospitals to treat their parishoners,schools to teach their parishoners and charities ito help their parishoners with their families,food and housing among others.They are not taxed because of their initial goal was to provide for their parishoners,but they don't turn their backs on American Indians,protestants,other christian organizations ,jews,muslims or even athiests,their door and their charities and their schools are open to anyone in need.Thousands of people have attended their schools,and hospitals and have not been required to change their religions just to do so.Their beliefs are they do not promote,teach,push,or believe in abotion,or contraception,it is against their beliefs.It violates The U.S.Constitution's First Amendment for the government to try to force The Catholic Church to either change their beliefs or alter them in any way and the obama administration knows this and tried to reach an accord but even the accord violates the Catholic Churches beliefs.The Catholic Church should sue The U.S.Government,the U.S.Senate,The U.S.Congress and The president for violating The First AmendMent and try to enforce it,sue everyone that voted FOR It.
Women,if you're Catholic,you've sinned against the church before and will do so again,the least you can do is support you church,don't be a cafeteria Catholic,stand by your church,this government will fall,but the Catholic Church will be around for awhile,Don't be a Nancy Pelosi,she only believes in the dollar.If you are considering abortion,don't get pregnant in the first place or have the baby and give it up for adoption,if your considering contraception,either say no or cross your legs,that is still allowed.
Before you say anything,hear this,i am a Catholic and i would have been a father had my wife didn't listen to her girlfriends and get an abortion.That was 34 years ago and her mind hasn't been right since.
Since when was any college required to carry health insurance? It seems that this little perk has become something that people expect. An entitlement, if you will. Not so. It is up to the individual schools what they
offer besides classes.
Healthcare is not required by the labor laws,healthcare usually comes into play with working agreements,contracts or union negotiating.
I'm amazed at some of the most idiotic comments here and to think that the only requirement for you to vote was to turn 18.
The federal grants ,loans and scholarships go to the students,they are only administered by the schools to provide for the distribution of funds and the accounting of those funds.
Abortion,although it is against the law for federal funds to pay for it,every female in the U.S.Military that gets an abortion,it is free as is the dependants of U.S.Military personnel,again free,it is against federal law but they do it.Contraceptives aren't free,they're paid for by federal funds,by payments for healthcare,you just don't see it on a bill.
Did anyone ever watch the movie "Saved"? You know how at the end the chick (I forgot her name) says that she doesn't understand why God would make everyone so different if he intended them to all be the same? Thats how I feel...I am a born and raised Catholic and although I'm currently a Christmas/Easter Catholic, I firmly believe in the Church and the good that it can bring about. That being said, I have no problem with people being gay, straight, celibate, poly-amorous, trans, pro/anti-marriage, pro/anti-baby, and everything in between. I went to Bible school and Catholic school and I'm pretty sure that Jesus said something about removing the log from your eye before picking at the twig in your neighbor's eye...also, there was something about a Golden Rule that said to treat others how you want to be treated. And finally, I feel like God said some stuff about being the one to pass judgement.....Basically, religion is a man-made institution that has the capacity to do great harm or great good so we should not treat it as the end-all, be-all.
Is this all related to the Sandra Fooker testimony before Congress? Is it not overblown, pardon pun.
Most of you people are scaring me. You would have loved the Soviet Union.
Get the government OUT of our private lives. Romney 2012.
Keep the Romney out of our government.
They spent all the Money paying for the Rapes that happened under their Roofs , shame on the Church :(
The Catholics don't want to pay for birth control. I don't want to pay taxes to take care of the unwanted kids that will result. Simple problem, simple solution. Make the Catholic church pay child support for every child of every mother who they talked out of birth control. See how quickly they change their mind as soon as the bills start coming in. Oh wait, they are against health care too, so they want to strong arm women into having kids and then they don't want to be responsible for them.
Simpler answer, Jeff - don't breed 'em if you can't feed 'em & keep your zipper up.
Worked so well for Mary and Joseph huh???
Does Prez-0's socialized healthcare plan mean that we can beatch slap the 400 lbs fat chick wearing the Obama shirt & woofing down the triple-whopper since her unhealthy lifestyle choices are contributing to the rising costs of healthcare? Cigarette smokers & boozers too?
Government regulation of healthcare is the first step in government regulation of lifestyle.
I did a quick Google search and found Franciscan University's financials from 2011. They paid no state and federal taxes, and also received a $725,172 government grant. Yearly tuition is $21,740. Their net assets are $117,393,426. I have absolutely ZERO sympathy for this college. My income taxes are supporting them, and they can fall in line to provide quality health care or stop taking my money.
Having birth control and abortion services as part of their health insurance plan would not be a "problem" unless students used it -- and guess what, they would. Did Franciscan Univ. think to survey their students -- their customers -- and find out if they wanted insurance, women's services included? Of course not. Instead they complain that THEIR religious rights are being violated while imposing their views on others who don't share them.
this is nothing,they are awakening the same spirit that willingly went to be eaten alive by the lions inside the colosseum before renouncing their beliefs.
The christians had to force the Romans to feed them to the lions.
The earliest Christian martyrs, tortured and killed by Roman officials enforcing worship of the emperors, won so much fame among their co-religionists that others wished to imitate them to such an extent that a group presented themselves to the governor of Asia, declaring themselves to be Christians, and calling on him to do his duty and put them to death.
Hooray for Franciscan University ! If someone wants sex, contraceptives, or an abortion, I do not want to pay for these. It has nothing to with religion, these are discretionary items of spending, and have everything to do with morality.
1. Not all birth control methods are used to actually prevent pregnancy. There should be exceptions made in the policy by institutions of any kind, including this religious college, for people using the available resources for other means other than allowing promiscuity or the intervention of God's will as some seem to be claiming. Many businesses have begun to make these exceptions as long as they provide medical proof such as a prescription, doctor note, etc. Also, as others have mentioned, not all attending students will necessarily be of the same religion as the institution. Some people like expanding their horizons and experiences and understandings is all.
2. Related to the first, I will now explain a bit more about these other uses for birth control such as pills, rings, etc. To begin, what usually goes into making these specific birth control products? Hormones!!! Yes, people. Hormones. And guess what some doctors prescribe? Well, I'll be darned. Hormonal treatments. A female's reproductive system can have issues that need some help from medications such as, well, Ortho Tri Cyclen and Yasmin. Maybe it's excrutiating pain from menstrual cramping that is so unbearable that one cannot even get out of bed or off the floor to go about daily life for 3-7 days of the month. Or maybe acne is the problem. Those nasty pimples can definitely be quite the nuisance. And guess what? When you find the right pill, it works wonders on clearing those painful things. Also, PCOS. If anyone knows about this, I'll be impressed. Very few seem to know about this syndrome caused by hormonal imbalance. Polycystic ovarian syndrome is caused by an excess of androgenic hormones (those that make a man, well, a man) and can cause few to many problems ranging from minor to severe and even life threatening. The use of preventive medications like birth control pills can reduce painful cramping, harmful and potentially dangers ovarian cysts, and so on. In order to keep this from getting too long I'll end the examples here.
Keep a couple thing in mind please to stop irritating people who actually look more into a topic and debate before going about spouting anger and hate at either party (This is not directed to everyone, btw, so please do not go flying off the handle. A select few are merely reinforcing their ingorance time and time again when others try to make valid arguments or merely inject a personal opinion.) 1. Knowledge is power. Wisdom, even more so. Do some research, please. Try to look at both sides (yours and the other) before going at each others throats. That is just pitiful. 2. Everyone will have their own opinion. Quit being so harsh simply because you think their way of thinking is wrong, sinful, evil, or whatever you may think. They may be thinking the same about you, first off. Also, such behavior is the mind of a simple mind. That is not to say a lack of intelligence, merely that it indicates an ignorant, close-minded, and quite possibly uneducated mind. Again, not an indication of a lack of intelligence, just that of someone who does not have the experience or wisdom of someone who has a broader view and understanding. Oh, and opinion are like buttholes so I've heard said. Everyone has them and usually they tend to stink to the person who chooses to perturb it in some form (get too close, poke it, irritate it, whatever.)
On a last note, I am not intending to insult anyone. I am merely posting to support anyone who might have made an argument along these lines and recieved backlash for lack of textual support and such. (To those backlashers - why don't you try researching yourself before making the stab that they are wrong and are just pulling it, basically, out of their arse.)
Thank you to those who do not criticize, but maybe only critique. Also, thank youto those who read through and maybe took some of my advice and enlightened themselves a bit more and became all the wiser. Goodnight.
Why can't the school just tell its students not to use the contraceptive portion of the program... or better yet, just assume that their students wouldn't use it.
whatever you think they have a right to decide what they believe in anbd adding twice the cost to a program that goes against their belief made it easy to decide to drop it.
Cool. Insurance companies were probably the LOBBYISTS behind the new "health care mandates". It means money for them. Buy of the politicians to get laws passed that favor your industry. NOW, it comes back and bites them in their as_es. If enough colleges do NOT require their students to have health insurance, guess who loses the business, and they lose $$$$ too. Tough sh_t to the insurance companies and their greedy business practices.
My guess is they will BUY more politicians and REQUIRE ALL college students to carry insurance.