http://www.catholicvote.org/discuss/index.php?p=30064


by Tom Crowe




“If you like your health care coverage you can keep it. ”


In various phrasings this was one of the more oft-repeated reasons
we were given to support, or at least not to oppose, Obamacare. But
like so many other things that have come out of this administration, it
also turns out not to be true.
To be sure, the President and HHS are not forcibly kicking anyone off
their health insurance plan. Yet. But we knew before the ink was dry
that companies would very likely have a financial incentive to drop
health care coverage altogether and dump their employees onto the public
exchanges.
No, we were told, that wouldn’t be the case. Lo and behold: it is the case.




"Even after paying a penalty of $2,000 per employee, the companies
[surveyed] stand to save $28.6 billion in 2014 alone by shifting
employees to health insurance exchanges governed by strict federal
standards. The companies stand to save more than $422 billion over the
first 10 years of the law by doing this."


So that’s one way Obamacare brings about “you” losing the health care
plan that you like. Employers, until Obamacare was passed, were not
compelled to offer health insurance but they did do because it is
expected and good for business—good luck getting top-notch employees if
health insurance coverage is not among the benefits. Under Obamacare
employers can both assure that employees have health insurance coverage
by dumping them onto the exchanges, and can save lots of money and
headache. Win-win.
But now there is another device by which Obamacare violates the “if you like it you can keep it” pledge: the HHS Mandate. See, part of reason I like my current health insurance plan offered
by my employer, Franciscan University of Steubenville, is that it does
not waste money on things I will never use because they are morally
repugnant to me, like contraceptives, sterilization, and abortofacients.
The HHS mandate purports to force me into a plan that I do not want
rather than the plan I’ve been very happy with. But that’s a
still-pending issue because of the one-year extension given (not that we
will comply even after a year, of course).
But a more-present impact of the mandate directly affects students. The following is now posted on Franciscan’s “Student Health Insurance Plan” page:




"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). 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.Due to these changes in regulation by the federal government,
beginning with the 2012-13 school year, the University 1) will no longer
require that all full-time undergraduate students carry health
insurance, 2) will no longer offer a student health insurance plan, and
3) will no longer bill those not covered under a parent/guardian plan
or personal plan for student health insurance. The current student
health insurance plan will expire on August 15, 2012. 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. As always, our
Health Center on campus will be staffed by a certified nurse
practitioner Monday – Friday during normal business hours. No insurance
is necessary to receive basic health-related services at the Health
Center, and the visits cost only $5 at the time of service. However, if
you are referred off campus for further lab testing, physician
specialists, X-rays, etc., you will be responsible to pay for those
services."



In short: We. Will. Not. Comply. And our students are the first one who will feel the pinch. Those who are left high and dry by the administration’s intrusion
into our freedom to practice our faith are our students. Who knows how
many will have insurance, how many will not, how many will have
insurance of the quality we offered before, how many will be able to
stay on their parents’ insurance through the extended adolescence
provision of Obamacare, etc. But there you have it: thanks to the government’s firm desire to make
sure the one or two women left in the country who did not have easy and
cheap access to contraceptives, abortofacients, and sterilization
procedures, our 2,500 students will no longer have an insurance plan
ready and waiting for them.