Hobby Lobby and Costly Health-Insurance "Freebies"

Hobby Lobby and Costly Health-Insurance "Freebies"

In a 5-4 decision last month, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Hobby Lobby's challenge to a provision in Obamacare (as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services) that required the arts-and-crafts chain to provide its employees with full coverage, without copays or deductibles, for four birth-control methods that its owners objected to on religious grounds. Independent Institute Senior Fellow John R. Graham disagrees with the claim, voiced by many liberals, that the Court's decision amounts to a "war on women," but he does believe the critics make a valid point when they complain about employers making healthcare decisions for their female employees. His solution: Make the court decision moot by eliminating the bias in the U.S. tax code that penalizes consumers who obtain health insurance not from their employers, but from an insurance broker or directly from an insurer. Such a policy of tax fairness would end the controversy over what employers are or are not willing to cover. READ MOREhttp://www.independent.org/publications/the_lighthouse/detail.asp?id=1558#3886

Reform Healthcare to Make Hobby Lobby Irrelevant, by John R. Graham (The Daily Caller, 7/11/14)

Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, by John C. Goodman