The Obama administration recently unveiled tweaks to rules for health insurance that would have compelled church−affiliated organizations to cover contraceptives for female employees under the insurance progams they provide. These provisions enraged many Catholics. The updated rule would not have applied to people who work directly for the Catholic Church, but it would have extended to affiliated organizations owned by the Church, such as Catholic hospitals and universities. Due to the extensive uproar that this policy provoked, the administration has since backtracked, instead placing the burden of financing contraception on insurance companies.
The issue is hardly the declaration of war against religion that so many religious activists and Republican candidates have claimed. But the provision does seem curiously inconsiderate and unnecessarily inflammatory.
It should have come as no surprise that this policy, as originally announced, would enrage Catholic bishops and conservative Catholics across the country. But the administration failed to foresee that moderate Catholics — including those who otherwise staunchly support the Obama health reforms — would also be unhappy, a foolish oversight on the part of Obama and his advisors. It is the enraged responses of this particular group of Catholics that will have the longest−lasting effects on the administration, potentially turning key voters against Obama come November.
Perhaps the biggest issue with the decision as a whole was not that a mistake was made, but that it could so easily have been avoided while still accomplishing the same goals that these changes hoped to achieve in the first place.
The newly revised stance of the administration shows the truth of such sentiments. The policy now requires third−party insurance companies, as opposed to the religious institutions themselves, to pay directly for contraceptives. This revised plan emulates a scheme already in place in Hawaii that is well−known to Obama's advisors. With the new proposal, the Church will not provide the money for this particular healthcare service, but all female employees will still have access to contraceptives and family planning. Both Planned Parenthood and the Catholic Health Association are supportive of these reforms.
With Obama's healthcare plans attacked regularly by his Republican opposition, his administration cannot afford to be making itself look bad as well. It was certainly political folly to alienate Catholic supporters and to hand the GOP a ready−made hot potato.
Now, Obama and his supporters will have to hope that any damage done to the broad support for healthcare reform can be repaired before the impending elections. If the administration hopes to make amends, it will need to put more foresight, sensitivity and political adeptness into its decisions over the coming months.
