Religious Non-Profits Win Injunction Against Contraceptive Coverage Mandate Opt-Out Rules

In a 91-page opinion in Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta v. Sebelius, (ND GA, March 26, 2014), a Georgia federal district court permanently enjoined the government from requiring Catholic Education of North Georgia and Atlanta Catholic Charities to execute and deliver a self-certification form to the third-party administrator of their health care plans.  Final Rules under the Affordable Care Act require the self-certification for objecting religious non-profits to opt out of the requirement to provide coverage for contraceptive services.

The court concluded that the Final Rules impose a substantial burden on plaintiffs' free exercise rights under RFRA:

... [T]he plain terms of the Final Rules show that the purpose and effect of the self-certification form is to enable the provision of contraceptive coverage. The self-certification form is an integral part of the Government’s contraceptive coverage scheme..... [I]t is a Government imposed device that pressures the Plaintiffs into facilitating the contraceptive coverage to which they have sincerely held religious objections.....

The Court’s conclusion does not change even if the Government had argued, as it did in other cases, that it has no ERISA authority to require a church plan to contract with a TPA to provide contraceptive coverage.... It is the fact of the requirement that is important, not whether the Government will or will not choose to enforce it....

The court also concluded that the government had not shown a compelling interest for imposing the substantial burden:

The Government claims that exempting CENGI and Catholic Charities from the contraceptive mandate would hinder its ability to effectively and uniformly administer the requirements of the ACA. That claim is discredited by the Government’s advocacy in other church plan cases in which it has argued that plaintiffs lack standing because self-certification will not necessarily result in the delivery of contraceptive products and services..... 

The Government’s interests in promoting public health and providing women with equal access to health care also cannot be compelling because the contraceptive mandate does not apply to the insurance plans of millions of women in this country.... Grandfathered health plans, small businesses and religious employers are all exempt from the contraceptive mandate....

Finally the court concluded that the provision barring non-profits from seeking to influence the third party administrator's decision to provide contraceptive services is a presumptively invalid, content-based restriction on speech. Daily Report covers the decision.