Supreme Court and Obamacare, Take Two
Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul (Obamacare), setting the stage for the law’s full implementation. Despite promises from the president that the law would not raise taxes, the court found that Obamacare is in fact a tax and therefore constitutional.
Nearly a year later, millions of Americans are now facing the harsh realities of Obamacare. Premiums are going up, not down. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have seen their insurance plans canceled, while others have been forced to change doctors.
It’s clear that Obamacare is unpopular, unworkable and unaffordable. And like last summer, the Supreme Court is once again set to rule on whether the law also is unconstitutional.
Under Obamacare, employers providing health insurance to employees must cover 20 forms of birth control, including the morning after pill, on their insurance plans at no cost.
Hobby Lobby, the nationwide craft chain, has challenged the regulation because of concerns regarding the morning after pill. While Hobby Lobby already covers 16 forms of contraception in their health insurance plans, they decline to cover those that can destroy an embryo, which violates some churches’ doctrine on the sanctity of life.
David Green founded Hobby Lobby in the early 1970s and turned a $600 loan into a multibillion-dollar business. Today, there are more than 550 Hobby Lobby stores across the nation.
Green is not only an extraordinary entrepreneur; he built his business on biblical principles. In fact, the craft store is closed on Sundays so employees can honor the Sabbath with a day of rest. Green also is pro-life.
So when the Obama administration issued a regulation requiring all employers to pay for insurance plans that include abortion-causing drugs, Green challenged the law. In September 2012, Hobby Lobby filed suit stating that requiring the Green family to pay for insurance plans that include abortion-inducing drugs is a violation of their religious freedoms protected under the Constitution.
Hobby Lobby is not alone in its concerns. So far, 94 cases have been filed representing 300 plaintiffs challenging Obamacare’s “contraceptives mandate.” I have joined in several amicus briefs supporting the company’s right to exercise freedom of religion.
There are many reasons to oppose Obamacare, but the contraceptives mandate strikes at the very heart of what our nation stands for — freedom of religion. The president believes that universal health care is a right; and he places it above the rights of employers to freely exercise their religious beliefs.
Only one of these is a right guaranteed by our Founding Fathers in the Constitution. The First Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”
Green, as CEO of Hobby Lobby, has the right to freely exercise his religious beliefs, including his belief that it is morally wrong to pay for abortion-inducing drugs.
The Supreme Court should overturn the contraceptives mandate to ensure that all Americans, including Green, can freely exercise their religious beliefs.
U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, represents the 21st Congressional District of Texas.
https://herald-zeitung.com/opinion/guest_columns/article_64e93310-c43d-11e3-a8bf-0019bb2963f4.html