This is truly disgusting. Time to change the name of the country to Christian Talibania if crap like this passes.
In their latest move in the battle over contraception coverage, top Republicans in Congress are going for broke: They’re now pushing a bill that would allow employers and insurance companies to pick and choose which health benefits to provide based simply on executives’ personal moral beliefs. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the top GOPer in the Senate, has already endorsed the proposal, and it could come to a vote this week. The measure would make the religious exemptions to President Barack Obama’s health care bill so large they’d swallow it whole.
“This is about gutting the Affordable Care Act and the protections it was meant to establish,” says Leila Abolfazli, a lawyer focusing at the National Women’s Law Center who focuses on health and reproductive rights.
[…]
But Blunt’s proposal doesn’t just apply to religious employers and birth control. Instead, it would allow any insurer or employer, religiously affiliated or otherwise, to opt out of providing any health care services required by federal law—everything from maternity care to screening for diabetes. Employers wouldn’t have to cite religious reasons for their decision; they could just say the treatment goes against their moral convictions.
Suppose your boss believes bloodletting and voodoo are the only morally permissible medical treatments. Should his beliefs be allowed to prevent you from getting treatment for cancer?
“Should his beliefs be allowed to prevent you from getting treatment for cancer?”
Yes it should.
It is called employment at will. If you do not like the benefits offered, you are free to choose not to work there.
If ‘bloodletting’ and ‘voodo’ are the health care plan, I do not think most would choose to be employed by such a company.
But if contraceptives are counter to an organizations beliefs, why must religious freedoms be taken away?
Being balanced here, what if separation of church and state still stood? If the owners believed only in Sharia law and only offered benefits according to such law, would you work there?
Bottom line is choice. Don’t work for either if you don’t believe in their decisions. And don’t let the government dictate. If you do let the government choose, they are picking your religion.
All the more important if you are agnostic or atheist.
There is an irony to that which is the whole reason there is a government.
The wealthy and high-demand labor pool wouldn’t because they have many choices.
It is the poor and those with very limited choices that most need protection, which is provided by the government via laws and standards.
And there is the strange tendency that the poor and those with limited choices tend to be in positions of potential abuse by exactly the type of employer that would prey on such a weakness.
i.e.: the people with the least options receive a lower standard in a system where otherwise options are the only card you can hold.
I was a temp once at a large employer that paid rather decently right after graduating from college.
They employed a rather large number of Somalis. I marveled in horror as the supervisors yelled at the help (and this was a bank! A huge bank.)
One day I was joking with someone while being very productive and one of the lower-level minders came over — a middle-aged African-American female (and a bit ugly) — and she gave me a furious 3rd degree loud and public lecture.
I thought of some hilarious things to say during this 5-minute tirade, but decided against it and mostly feigned paying attention.
When she was done and went away, I grabbed my coat and thought “This was an interesting experience. Good luck with your life, lady. I have college degree, haha.”
I snuck out of the building and at the guard station I told the guard, “My name is so and so, can you let the manager back there know I won’t be returning.”
But I could walk away from that weird little environment. I don’t think those Somalis could if they wanted to.
I can’t say for sure if there wasn’t some reason of merit that might have caused the supervisors there to act in that manner, I am guessing they received tax dollars at that bank for employing the Somalis so maybe they were unwilling to fire the bad employees for economic reasons or even political ones.
Your points are very valid but many in here believe a perfect free market system is flawless.
That notion that an absolute and total free market system must apply everywhere is itself a religion!!!
Let us consult the Holy Scriptures:
Numbers 5:11-21 – The description of a bizarre, brutal and abusive ritual to be performed on a wife SUSPECTED of adultery. This is considered to be an induced abortion to rid a woman of another man’s child.
Numbers 31:17 (Moses) “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every women that hath known man by lying with him.” In other words: women that might be pregnant, which clearly is abortion for the fetus.
Hosea 13:16 – God promises to dash to pieces the infants of Samaria and the “their women with child shall be ripped up.” God kills the unborn, including their pregnant mothers.
2 Kings 15:16 – God allows the pregnant women of Tappuah (aka Tiphsah) to be “ripped open”.
Deuteronomy 21:18-21 “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.”
So far it appears God is totally in favor of abortion.
I cannot imagine why God would not be in favor of contraception.
Where do the religious zealots get the idea that abortion goes against God’s Law? They must not be reading their Bibles.
Orchid: You forgot – Ecclesiastes 10:2
“The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.”
The bibble is a lot like statistics: you can prove anything…
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Hmeyers2 says:
2/14/2012 at 9:08 pm
Bobbo, I am inherently untrollable as you may have noticed. But it sure is precious of you to try. And heart-warming that you made the effort. /// Ha, ha. Got that Puke group tested effective labeling technique down pretty well HM I gotta agree.
But I have never trolled–however we both may be defining the term.
but I was playing “Pin the Tail” – – – and you know the rest.
HM–I do sense your humor although its pretty deep down, and your humanity, that is actually covered by your humor. You leave clues: “When she was done and went away, I grabbed my coat and thought “This was an interesting experience. Good luck with your life, lady. I have college degree, haha.” //// What to make of that? Real life experiences but you think you are somehow/way different than the Somali’s?
And THAT my friend is how the .1% work their magic. Most fools unable to see clearly as long as there is someone below/behind/worseoff. Can’t see the horizon though.
Maybe when Animby gets around to buying me that beer, we can invite you too HM and every other Retarded Puke here and have a real hoe-down. Imagine the blood===metaphorically speaking.
That lady wasn’t Somali.
Just some black lady really unhappy with her job and likely her life in general, deciding to “take it out” on me because she was unhappy.
Ironically, I was just bored and uninterested as she did it. I had already concluded that environment was sadistic comedy.
I couldn’t recall seeing her before and concluded the real reason she was doing it was because I was happy and enjoying my work.
“Real life experiences but you think you are somehow/way different than the Somali’s”
Of course I’m different than Somalis.
Not biologically. The difference is in the head.
They don’t embrace education in Somalia any more than they embrace learning science and making thoughtful and measured conclusions at a creationist convention.
Humans are not works of biology. Humans are works of education, critical education and culture.
Religion is like a penis.
Fur—I’m with you in the general sentiment “but” isn’t the problem with a penis is that “eventually” it always comes out? ///// Analogies===fun to play with, much like penis.
UNLIKE a penis==religious is an evil crotch rotting affliction even when kept to yourself.
No—I gotta disagree with you.
Hmeyers2 says:
2/15/2012 at 1:13 am
“Real life experiences but you think you are somehow/way different than the Somali’s”
Of course I’m different than Somalis. //// We have shared this forum for years and you’ve never read any of my posts? Ha, ha. OF COURSE, you are different from Somalis, but the same as well. Pity the poor hooman. He thinks he is special. Only god sucking on his balls keeps him tethered to earth.
Not biologically. The difference is in the head. /// Both. …. and both the same and different at the same time. Compare and Contrast. Weigh and Judge. Rinse, lather, repeat. Boy, HM, you ARE one stoopid white boy.
They don’t embrace education in Somalia any more than they embrace learning science and making thoughtful and measured conclusions at a creationist convention. //// And even if true, that is relevant to anything else how?
Humans are not works of biology. /// Of course we are. I wouldn’t be typing to you if you were a cantaloupe.
Humans are works of education, critical education and culture. /// Yes, and we all, every single one of us, get our own version of same.
HMyers. How many tails would it take? Somehow, you have missed the most simple of basics to even begin to understand your whole life.
Read a book.
Bobbo, my story was a simple one.
It is called “vote with your feet”. Not everyone has the same circumstances to be able to “vote with your feet”.
I know after your extended dry spell, you want to “win” a conversation with me by trying to twist up my words.
I’m sure that it will eventually happen, but when that day comes it will be because you have a better set of ideas.
Perhaps your funny little character assassination attempts are the source of your weakness. Having strong positions based on knowledge and science do not require such behavior to illustrate a point.
No story is simple with the Great and Powerful Oz, err, Bob.
At least you didn’t get a “Let’s parse…
This attack on religion is a lubricated slope.
Oh no, the Republicans are trying to take things back to the way things were a few months ago.
Democrats want to insist on boss’s morals be overridden by the government. No Catholics need apply.
Just saw a piece on Olberman interviewing a Steve Jobs biographer. He recounts Steve, the Greatest Capitalist ever Known, you know: making billions while exporting 10K’s of jobs to China?==seems he was sent a letter by some factory worker advocates informing him the labor “force” is working 100 hours a week and could he as the CEO of Apple intercede in China to get 40 hour weeks?
Steve purported wrote back a single line: “I work more than 100 hours per week.”
Steve Jobs died at the age of 56. I wonder if there is a moral to his story? Karma, maybe?
I am not opposed to hard work, but dying young is against my religion.
I think the moral of story was actually …
If you have super-deadly pancreatic cancer, begin medical treatment immediately with real physicians.
Pancreatic cancer has a mortality rate of near 100% and that is not the situation where you decide you will instead go for alternative medicine.
But he did. And he’s dead.
Bingo.
Also, I think, another lesson: make sure the rewards are worth the effort. If that Chinese worker was getting the package that Jobs got (obviously, minus the cancer), he’d have no problem working over 100 hours a week…
Bingo.
With a near perfect mortality rate, what difference does type of care make? A few more weeks of agony?
But yeah===did I hear there was a specific reason he eschewed Western Medicine or was it just a holistic thing?
Latter I think, which means his marketing genius didn’t overlap into much of any other area of his life like care for his fellow man.
A complete picture always shows the most!
His chiropractor said he could cure it through manipulation and massage.
I love people like orchidcup who think Apple (or Microsoft, or Google, or Amazon) hasn’t created 10,000’s of jobs in the US. Or that the jobs have to come to them, not the other way around.
Which says a lot about US unemployment rates. 1950’s thinking.
Whatever exemptions are granted under this or any other bill, you can bet your sweet ass that your premiums will still go up and your co-pay too. Doesn’t even matter what your political affiliation is.
Stunning.
With ObamaCare, the Democrats want the President and his Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide what health coverage you get. I would think that people who find Republicans too ‘Taliban” would be upset with that situation. I think gun training should be covered by all health care plans…
NewfornatSux says:
2/15/2012 at 9:12 am
With ObamaCare, the Democrats want the President and his Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide what health coverage you get. /// How so? What coverage do you want that is now being denied? The biggest benefit of ObamaCare so far is that you cannot be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. JUST THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU POST!! Funny how often Pukes post like that. Why you hating so erroneously?
I would think that people who find Republicans too ‘Taliban” would be upset with that situation. /// Sure would be if it were true.
I think gun training should be covered by all health care plans…//// and thats because a gun can resolver any and all conflicts huh?
Another Registered Democrat gone bad. Ha, ha.
I’m surprised the Rs are not supporting the Ds in their quest for universal free contraception and abortions. Very short-sighted on both sides.
The way I see it, most R women are pro-life and would seldom consider an abortion. Also more likely to have a religious background that encourages childbirth.
So, most contraception and abortions would take place within the population of D women as they are the one who claim to favor pro-choice stands.
Therefore, the ratio of R:D births would rise and in a generation or so the number of R voters will larger.
Seems to me the Rs would encourage the Ds to move forward while the Ds ought to foresee what havoc their policy might wreak.
You forgot the fact that they are concerned with what you do in bed. It offends their sense of morality to think someone is fucking for fun.
This is a reason that health care shouldn’t be linked to an employer. Buy you own health insurance.
That is exactly what can happen for this contraceptive thing. These Catholic hospitals might just stop giving their employees health care. Unintended consequences of totalitarianism or a step toward single payer? Obama has a plan.
I don’t see why many people have a problem with enforced morality. Conservatives, liberals, progressives, etc. all want to force their versions of morality through the police powers of the state. At least a person can choose employers.
this bill is nothing more than a pathetic distraction, ignore it.
-s
And the Union exemptions for Caesar Obama’s plan are OK?
sheeeeeeeit!
Oh and the corporate exemptions too…. plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!
Thanks Chairman Obama!
>Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide what health coverage you get. /// How so? What coverage do you want that is now being denied?
My god. Nancy Pelosi said we have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it, but apparently in your case it didn’t take.
The bill says the HHS Secr can determine what constitutes the minimum coverage insurance companies must cover. So if HHS Sec says gun training is preventative health care, then it must be covered. If he said gym memberships must be covered it must be covered. If they said Whole Foods purchases must be covered it must be covered.
In the early part of the last century, there was something called Eugenics. And the Supreme Court of the US was in support of it. And about 30 states forced sterilizations upon those it considered feeble. In order to keep the country pure. This was the pseudo-scientific belief of a few biologists, that spread to many a major university. Eventually the idea caught on with the Nazis, in Germany. Who took it to the next extreme. Death camps. Not until the 1950s, were US states loathe to maintain their Eugenics laws anymore.
http://commondreams.org/views/072100-106.htm
Now what’s this about how the wealthy gets to choose what happens to those they employ, when it comes to health care?