The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby’s religious-based opposition to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employers must offer contraception insurance coverage to employees. The ruling stated that “closely held” companies can invoke religious objections to avoid covering contraception in workers’ health plans.
David Green, founder and chief executive of Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., said Hobby Lobby lost the religious battle in lower courts previously, so he wasn’t sure what ruling to expect from the Supreme Court. “It wasn’t as though we thought this was a slam dunk by any means,” Green said in a Wall Street Journal article on the decision.
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Green received the Supreme Court decision and immediately thanked his family and supporters for remaining strong. The decision will not immediately change anything for the 30,000 Hobby Lobby employees since the company already had an injunction to the requirement.
“There is a joy of being delivered from something we really think should not have been for us,” Green said.
The court offered a potential compromise arrangement to Hobby Lobby, that the Obama administration would offer all for-profit companies the same accommodation it had offered to religiously affiliated not-for-profits that object to providing contraception.
The law would still require insurers provide contraceptives, but would not charge premiums to employers or co-payments to individuals. Hobby Lobby’s attorney appeared skeptical of the opt-out.
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