Rather than resolve a dispute over the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, the U.S. Supreme Court on May 16 remanded the cases to appeals courts without ruling on the plaintiffs’ religious freedom arguments. The decision to remand seems due to Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, which left the court in a 4-4 conservative/liberal deadlock; leading observers to predict the High Court might revisit the case after a ninth member is appointed. The case is Zubik v. Burwell, No. 14-1418.
The ACA requires employers that offer employees group health plans to cover certain approved contraceptive methods or face penalties of $100 per day per affected individual. There is an exception for group health plans sponsored by religious employers, and grandfathered health plans in existence before the law took effect.
Organizations that object to the contraceptive mandate but do not qualify for the religious-employer exemption may qualify for an accommodation intended to protect them from “having to contract, arrange, pay, or refer for” contraceptive coverage.
The accommodation required the objecting organization to notify the government and their claims administrator about their objections, which would trigger the claims administrator to set up contraceptive coverage. Some organizations objected to even this level of involvement.
In previous action, the Supreme Court on March 28 asked for more briefs on “whether contraceptive coverage could be provided to petitioners’ employees, through petitioners’ insurance companies, without any such notice from petitioners.” Oral arguments were held on March 23.