Churches will be exempt from a U.S. rule requiring coverage of birth-control pills and devices at no cost to patients, the Department of Health and Human Services said last Friday.
Religious-affiliated businesses such as universities and hospitals associated with the Catholic Church must still offer birth control coverage by August 2013, said Mary Wakefield, administrator of the agency’s Health Resources and Services Administration, in a conference call.
The 2010 health-care overhaul requires insurers to cover preventive health services without co-payment.
U.S. health officials announced in August that those services would include contraception, including birth control pills, implants and sterilization procedures.
“Most women will no longer have to worry about having to skip this critical preventive care because their plan doesn’t cover it or they can’t afford an expensive co-pay,” Wakefield said.
Religious organizations opposed to birth control demanded an exception to the requirement.
In a compromise, the government agreed to exempt churches and businesses they administer. Nonprofits affiliated with churches got a one-year delay before they must comply.
“This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.
Wakefield said she wasn’t sure how the government would enforce the requirement.
Women whose employers don’t cover contraception even after the requirement takes effect should complain to state consumer assistance programs, said Mayra Alvarez, director of health policy at HHS.