The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is pleased that the Obama Administration has continued to hold firm to the principle that employees must have access to contraceptive services as part of any employer-sponsored health plan and has decided to keep in place the substance of guidelines that require health insurance providers and organizations providing health care plans to cover preventive health services without charging a co-payment. Nonetheless, CFI is concerned that the administration has apparently felt obliged to modify its proposed regulation in the face of pressure, especially from the Catholic Church.
It's certainly understandable that CFI would pretty much automatically oppose whatever the Catholic Church is for, but what do contraceptive services have to do with preventive health services, except for women for whom pregnancy is contra-indicated? Pregnancy, while always a risky proposition, is not a disease. Aren't we spending enough on health care as it is?
It is also interesting to note that many Catholic-backed plan cover Viagra (as do Medicare and Medicaid). I would think this would be more controversial than it is. You only hear about it now in connection with the birth control bru-ha-ha. But think about it: why should the society pay for the elderly poor to have sex? Paying for contraceptives certainly makes more sense if you believe Freakonomics' premise that unwanted pregnancies give birth to criminals. Still, it would be cheaper to use condoms, especially with all the side effects of birth control pills.
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