Contraceptives likely to be included in national health coverage

According to the Washington Times, "A nonpartisan Institute of Medicine panel recommended Tuesday that contraception and a handful of other services related to women’s health be considered preventative and must be covered by insurance companies without charging co-payments." Apparently, women's health recommendations were considered too sensitive an issue to be placed in the actual healthcare bill, so now it is at the discretion of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to determine which recommendations will be adopted as part of the law. Because of the bill's ambiguous wording about the power of the secretary, Sebelius is able to force all taxpaying Americans to pay for the contraceptives of others. The conservative Family Research Council said including the morning-after pill in the insurance guidelines “essentially would mandate coverage for abortion.” “If HHS includes these mandates, the conscience rights of millions of Americans will be violated,” Jeanne Monahan, the director of the council's Center for Human Dignity, said in a statement. “HHS should focus on items and services that prevent actual diseases, and not include controversial services just to placate the abortion industry.” Read the full story here.