New twists never seem to end in lawsuits challenging the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate. The Thomas More Law Center
announced that problems with the Healthcare.gov website led to events that caused it to file suit on Wednesday in D.C. federal district court on behalf of an Ohio-based small business, Electrolock, and its Catholic owners, the Williams family:
The Williams Family, who are devout Catholics, object to the HHS mandate requirement that they provide insurance for their employees covering abortifacients, contraception and sterilization.... [I]n an effort to avoid compromising their religious beliefs... the Williams Family initially paid each of their 43 employees several thousand dollars so the employees could purchase their own health insurance through the government Exchanges.
When employees began to have problems with the Exchange website, the Williams Family had to respond to the complaints and the serious concerns of their employees who were facing loss of health care, frustration with the flawed government website, and the decision to look for other employment that did provide healthcare....
In a final attempt to provide for their employees in good conscience, the Williams Family has organized a self-insured employee health plan which they are seeking to implement. However, since the plan excludes abortion, sterilization, contraception, abortifacients and related education, the Williams Family requires an injunction from the court in order to implement the plan without penalties, which would exceed $1.5 million dollars per year.
