Religious Liberty Protection Act of 2014 - Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing or enforcing any provision of the final rule published on July 2, 2013, related to the coverage of preventive health services under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or any amendment to such rule or subsequent rule insofar as such provision, amendment, or subsequent rule requires any individual or entity to provide coverage of sterilization or contraceptive services to which the individual or entity is opposed on the basis of religious belief.
Amends PPACA to declare that a health plan shall not be considered to have failed to provide essential health benefits, to fail to be a qualified health plan, or to fail to fulfill any other requirements on the basis that the plan does not provide or pay for coverage of sterilization or contraceptive services because: (1) providing or paying for such coverage is contrary to the religious or moral beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan; or (2) such coverage, in the case of individual coverage, is contrary to the religious or moral beliefs of the purchaser or beneficiary of the coverage.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4396 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4396
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from
implementing certain rules relating to the health insurance coverage of
sterilization and contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug
Administration.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 3, 2014
Mr. Luetkemeyer (for himself, Mr. Johnson of Ohio, Mr. McCaul, Mr.
Broun of Georgia, Mr. Bentivolio, and Mr. Long) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from
implementing certain rules relating to the health insurance coverage of
sterilization and contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug
Administration.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Religious Liberty Protection Act of
2014''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Deeply embedded in the history and traditions of the
United States is the protection of religious freedom. The First
Amendment of the United States Constitution states ``Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof'', and thus, it gives
general protection for individuals' religious beliefs and
practices.
(2) Repeatedly during the existence of the United States,
Congress has reaffirmed the freedom of religion by enacting,
among other things, title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
the Church amendment, the Weldon amendment, section 245 of the
Public Health Service Act, and the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act of 1993. Through their passage, the United
States has augmented religious freedoms and set the precedent
of protection of conscience rights.
(3) The Weldon amendment has been regularly included in
appropriations legislation for the Department of Health and
Human Services. The Weldon amendment prohibits Federal
agencies, States, and local governments that receive the
appropriated funds in the respective Act from discriminating
among institutional or individual health care professionals,
organizations, facilities, and plans on the basis of a health
care entity's refusal to provide, pay for, provide coverage of,
or refer for abortions.
(4) The United States has a history of protecting
individuals, organizations, facilities, and plans from being
penalized or discriminated against due to their religious
beliefs and moral values. Until the enactment of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), the
Federal Government has never sought to impose specific health
care coverage or care requirements that infringe on the
conscience rights of insurers, purchasers of insurance, plan
sponsors, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders, such as
individual or institutional health care entities.
(5) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act grants
the Department of Health and Human Services the authority to
provide a list of detailed services to be included as essential
health benefits (as defined in section 1302(a) of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act), and preventive health
services described in section 2713 of the Public Health Service
Act. These services represent a new nationwide coverage
requirement for health plans.
(6) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides
a narrow exemption for religious groups that object to
participation in government health programs generally, but it
does not allow purchasers, plan sponsors, and other
stakeholders with religious or moral objections to specific
required items or services to decline providing or obtaining
coverage of such items or services, or allow health care
entities with such objections to decline to provide them.
(7) By creating new barriers to health insurance and
causing the loss of existing insurance arrangements, these
inflexible mandates in the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act jeopardize the ability of individuals to exercise
their rights of conscience and their ability to freely
participate in the health insurance and health care
marketplace.
(8) In a significant move from the current free insurance
coverage market, the Department of Health and Human Services
issued an interim rule on August 1, 2011, requiring individual
and group health plans to cover free sterilization and all
contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
(9) Within the list of contraceptives approved by the Food
and Drug Administration are drugs containing abortifacient
substances and effects, including Levonorgestral commonly known
as Plan B and ulipristal acetate marketed as Ella. Thus, the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act effectively mandates
employers to provide health care insurance covering abortion
drugs and services, which is a violation of numerous Federal
provisions aforementioned.
(10) On January 20, 2012, the Department of Health and
Human Services announced that it would not broaden the
religious exemption it included in its August 1, 2011, interim
rule. Instead, it gave institutions and employers with
religious and moral objections to including free sterilization
and all contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug
Administration in their offered health insurance plan an
additional year to ``adapt'' their consciences to the mandate.
(11) In June 2013, the Department of Health and Human
Services proposed a definition of ``religious employer'' for
purposes of the exemption from the contraceptive coverage
requirement. The exemption essentially only applies to formal
houses of worship. All other religiously affiliated entities
must continue to comply with the mandate or otherwise face a
fine.
SEC. 3. PROTECTING RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.
(a) Prohibition on Implementation of Certain Rules.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Health and
Human Services shall not implement or enforce any provision of the
final rule published on July 2, 2013 (78 Fed. Reg. 39870), or any
amendment to such rule or rule published subsequent to such rule,
insofar as such provision, amendment, or subsequent rule relates to
requiring any individual or entity to provide coverage of sterilization
or contraceptive services to which the individual or entity is opposed
on the basis of religious belief.
(b) Clarification on Application to PPACA Requirements.--Section
1302(b) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law
111-148; 42 U.S.C. 18022(b)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new paragraph:
``(6) Special rule.--A health plan shall not be considered
to have failed to provide the essential health benefits package
described in subsection (a) (or preventive health services
described in section 2713 of the Public Health Service Act), to
fail to be a qualified health plan, or to fail to fulfill any
other requirement under this title on the basis that the plan
does not provide (or pay for) coverage of sterilization or
contraceptive services because--
``(A) providing (or paying for) such coverage is
contrary to the religious or moral beliefs of the
sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan; or
``(B) such coverage, in the case of individual
coverage, is contrary to the religious or moral beliefs
of the purchaser or beneficiary of the coverage.''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
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