Denial of coverage
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that closely held, for-profit corporations have a right to exercise the religious beliefs of their owners and therefore cannot be required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to provide contraception coverage to employees if it conflicts with those views. In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., the Green family, owners of a large chain of arts-and-crafts shops across the nation employing more than 13,000 workers, argued that some “morning after” contraception methods were incongruent with their religious objections to abortion. The court ruled that forcing companies to pay for such coverage, or faces fines of $475 million annually for failing to do so, was a substantial burden and a violation of their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). Nonprofit religious employers, like schools and charities, are already exempt from such a mandate. Associate Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the...