New proposal would remove mandate’s penalties for religious employers
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Saying that the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 28 decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act “leaves intact a grave assault to religious freedoms,” Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., announced July 10 that he would introduce the Religious Freedom Tax Repeal Act. The bill, which has 57 co-sponsors, would allow employers who have religious or moral objections to covering certain preventive services mandated by the health reform law to decline to provide them through their health insurance plans without facing taxes, penalties or enforcement actions for their noncompliance. The Supreme Court ruled June 28 that it was constitutional for Congress to require individuals to purchase health insurance under its authority to tax. Sensenbrenner said the health reform law “gives the federal government the tools to tax religiously affiliated schools, hospitals, universities and soup kitchens right out of existence” by imposing penalties of up to $100 per employee per day on employers who fail to provide services mandated by the Department of Health and Human Services, which include sterilizations and contraceptives, including some abortion-causing drugs. A religious institution with 50 employees, for example, could face penalties of up to $36,500 per employee per year, or more than $1.8 million per year, he said. “Obviously, if these taxes are levied and they are enforced, there will be no religious-affiliated institutions left in this country,” said Sensenbrenner, former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.