Followers of faith and politics have been consumed over the past few days with the discussion of the Obama Administration’s mandate regarding coverage for contraceptive services.
On Friday, the Administration announced a compromise that sought to quiet the controversy. It didn’t.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "Catholic bishops said Friday night that they would not support the Obama administration's proposed compromise on a controversial rule that requires most employers to fully cover contraception in their workers' health plans."
The revised policy says that religious employers who do not wish to offer contraception coverage could exclude that from their policies. Instead, insurance companies who provide those policies would be required to provide access to contraception for plan participants. The debate continued to rage as the religious community said that was merely a pass through since they would still be paying for that insurance coverage.
On Sunday, the President’s Chief of Staff Jacob Lew said, "We have set out our policy. We are going to finalize it in the final rules, but I think what the president announced on Friday is a balanced approach that meets the concerns raised both in terms of access to health care and in terms of protecting religious liberties, and we think that's the right approach."
In other words, according to the White House the compromise is over.
But it’s not likely that the Catholic Bishops will agree.
The issue may go all the way to the ballot box in November.
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