The contraceptive mandate portion of Trumpcare provides that an employer may refuse to provide birth control, by citing religious objections -- but no worries, Viagra will still be covered.
Since November, policy nerds and women’s health advocates have wondered how Trump’s long-promised rollback of the
Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate will look. Today, we got a sneak peak.
The draft of the rule,
obtained by Vox’s Sarah Kliff and Dylan Scott, would allow any employer or university to opt out of providing birth control to their employees or students by citing religious objection.
The rule only applies to religious and morality-based objections to female contraception. It does not apply to other things a religion may find morally objectionable, like psychiatric drugs, blood transfusions, or Viagra. In addition, the rule would not require an employer to formally register their objection with the government before ending contraception coverage. Employers would be required to notify employees in advance of the change, but once the policy change was in effect, women would not be able to use their workplace insurance policies to pay for contraception. Even if was prescribed for
reasons apart from prevention of pregnancy.
And Trump thinks he’s the victim of a witch hunt? He should try being a female under his administration.