Paul Giorgio: Another Attack on Healthcare

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Paul Giorgio, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER

The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Affordable Care Act is legal, now they must stop the religious right from trying to gut the law based on religious grounds, believes Paul Giorgio.

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday in a case that pits women’s rights groups against closely held corporations. At the crux of the issue is whether companies can refuse to pay for healthcare benefits if they object on religious grounds. In the case before the court, the issue is coverage for contraceptives.

Companies' religious rights

The Hobby Lobby Stores and the family that owns them say that, "religious beliefs prohibit them from providing health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception."

The Hobby Lobby has more than 15,000 full-time employees in more than 600 stores spread out in 41 states. According to reports, the owners, the Green family, describe themselves as evangelical Christians.

The other company involved in the case before the Court is Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp., owned by a Mennonite family and employing 950 people. The company makes wood cabinets.

The Obama administration says a victory for the companies would prevent women who work for them from making decisions about birth control based on what's best for their health, not whether they can afford it.

Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women's Law Center said that, "Women already have an income gap. If these companies prevail, they'll have a health insurance gap, too." The contraceptives at issue before the courts are the emergency contraceptives Plan B and two IUDs that are regularly prescribed to prevent conception.

We have heard these same arguments previously from religious groups who don’t want to pay for women’s healthcare.

If these two companies prevail, what will stop other businesses from denying healthcare coverage based on religious grounds?

How far is too far?

What if a business is owned by a Christian Science family, who do not believes in healthcare at all, but rather believe in the power of prayer. Should they be able to deny healthcare to someone who is Catholic or Jewish? I think not.

What if some company believes that based on their religion, cancer is punishment from God and should not be treated. Would they or should they be allowed a religious exemption?

Should a company headed by a member of Fred Phelps’s Westboro Baptist Church be allowed to exclude the treatment of AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases, because they believe that God is punishing gays?

Should a company, whose owners are Jehovah Witnesses, refuse to cover blood transfusions for their employees? The answer again is no.

A slippery slope

The slope becomes steep and very slippery very quickly. The Obama Administration has also raised the issue of companies opting out of other laws based on Religious Freedom. Laws such as immunization or Social Security or minimum wage laws could be next if the plaintiffs in this case prevail.

Currently, this issue is confined to family owned businesses with a limited number of shareholders. But what happens if a publicly traded company’s shareholders decide to limit their healthcare coverage?

Obamacare or the Affordable care Act is meant to supply healthcare coverage to all Americans regardless of religion, race or sex.

If your religion prohibits you from having an abortion and you believe the tenants of that religion, then don’t have one. But please don’t use your religion to deny the rights and benefits to others who have a different belief system and religion than you.

The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Affordable Care Act is legal, now they must stop the religious right from trying to gut the law based on religious grounds.

Paul Giorgio is a longtime Democratic Party Activist who has worked on numerous campaigns. He was a Lead Advance Person for President Clinton & Vice President Gore. He was Deputy Director of Special Events for President Clinton’s first Inauguration. He has been elected a delegate to numerous Democratic National Conventions and recently served as one of President Obama’s representatives on the Platform Committee. In 2013 he was chosen as a Presidential Elector. He is the President of Pagio, Inc., publishers of Pulse Magazine, Vitality Magazine and Worcester Medicine.

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