Friday, January 03, 2014

Notre Dame Complies With Affordable Care Act Contraceptive Mandate Accommodation

In the flurry of decisions this week in suits by religious non-profits seeking protection from the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage accommodation, one institution that failed to obtain injunctive relief was Notre Dame University. (See prior posting.) According to WNDU, on Tuesday the University issued a statement saying:
Having been denied a stay, Notre Dame is advising employees that pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, our third party administrator is required to notify plan participants of coverage provided under its contraceptives payment program.
As part of an ongoing legal action, however, the program may be terminated once the university's lawsuit on religious liberty grounds against the HHS mandate has worked its way through the courts.
Meanwhile, at Balkinization blog, Marty Lederman has an excellent backgrounder on the non-profit contraceptive mandate cases, as well as this backgrounder on whether or not the broader mandate really involves a requirement to cover "abortifacients."