White House Negotiations With Bishops Focuses On Definition of Religious Organization

Reuters reported yesterday that the Obama administration is quietly negotiating with representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to resolve their high-profile disagreement over the administration's mandate for health insurance coverage of contraceptives. (See prior posting.) Apparently the critical issue has become the White House's narrow definition of religious organizations that are exempt from the health care insurance mandate: non-profit religious employers whose primary purpose is the inculcation of religious values and which also both employ and serve only individuals who share the groups' religious tenets. The Bishops fear that this narrow definition-- which excludes most faith-based colleges,hospitals and social service organizations-- will spread in federal law and supplant more broadly interpreted exemptions for religious institutions in other federal laws. The White House says its definition for purposes of the Affordable Care Act minimum coverage provisions is not intended to create a precedent.