Posted on 07/06/2014 5:32:50 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Supreme Court's recent decision in the Hobby Lobby case demonstrates that the court, at least the five justices who voted in favor of Hobby Lobby, has little concern for, and probably little understanding of, women's health care. By ruling that corporations, on the grounds of the alleged religious views of their owners, can deny women access to some forms of contraception, the court set a horrible precedent that if followed will endanger the health and lives of many American women.
The Hobby Lobby ruling may at first seem like a victory for the minority of Americans who think that both abortion and contraception should be illegal, and for those who believe that the US should operate more as a theocracy than a country where state and church are separate. However, the ruling not only is terrible news for women seeking a guarantee of good healthcare through their employer, but also for anybody who believes in personal freedom.
In the US, where health insurance is linked to employment, health insurance is part of the compensation package. When most Americans are about to start a new job, or choosing between two or more jobs, one of the first questions they ask is about the quality of the health insurance they will get. In most cases, health insurance varies because some companies offer plans with lower co-pays, better dental care or things like that. Firms that deny dental care are doing it because of concerns about costs, not because they have an ethical or religious problem with healthy teeth. Hobby Lobby is doing something different, denying women access to some forms of health care because of the personal beliefs of the people who run the company.
This decision raises the question of whether the Supreme Court will next rule that employers can tell workers how to spend the money they earn at their jobs. This sounds a bit extreme, but in a very real way that is precisely what the court just did. By limiting how workers can use some of their compensation, the court, despite its own assertions that it was not setting a precedent, opened the door for further limitations. If Hobby Lobby can tell people how they can or cannot use their health care benefits, why can't they also tell people they can't, for example, use their salaries to, for donate to pro-choice political candidates or pro-marriage equality causes? The answer, one would think, would be obvious, but the recent court decision makes it considerably less clear.
The Republican Party has long, if not always sincerely, repeated a mantra of individual freedom, but the Hobby Lobby decision, in which all five justices who formed the majority were appointed by Republican presidents, undermines that. A central belief of all Republican politicians is that Americans should have a right to do what they want with, and keep as much as possible of, their hard-earned money. The Supreme Court made a big move against that idea this week, but the outrage from the Republican side has been absent.
Conservative opposition to healthcare have consistently argued that decisions about health care should be made by patients and doctors, not by the government. The death panel hysteria that Sarah Palin unleashed on the American people a few years ago took that point to a nutty extreme. After last week, conservatives who support Hobby Lobby should probably change their position and argue that health care decisions should be made not by a patient's doctor, but by a patient's employer. Similarly, for supporters of the Hobby Lobby decision, the new mantra of individual freedom should now be that Americans should be allowed to do whatever they want with their hard earned money, as long as their boss approves, but somehow that seems an unlikely campaign slogan for Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.
The Hobby Lobby decision is about women's health care and individual freedom, but it also another sign of the consolidation of power by big corporations in the US. It is now legal for corporations to deny workers important medical services, and redefine their compensation packages, simply because, religious claims aside, they want to. During a very tenuous recovery in which real wages have not recovered, unemployment remains high and economic uncertainty on the part of working Americans is an enormous problem, the Supreme Court just gave more rights to corporations while taking wealth, as health care benefits are a form of wealth, out of the hands of working Americans.
Their rhetoric would have you believe that Hobby Lobby has assigned a chaperone to every employee and any attempt to “access” an abortifacient is quickly denied by the chaperone.
They rage at a strawman.
Hobby Lobby has freedom rights also!
Reminder: Hobby Lobby Provides Coverage for 16 Types of Contraception
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3174342/posts
Basic common sense is not a strong point with these gits.
The left is just showing how unhinged they really are.
Boy, talk about delusional.
Funny how they always care so much about republicans
and the “mistakes” they make...
They would have you believe that Hobby Lobby has a prison where they send their pregnant employees to force them to give birth. But this happens whenever they fear their precious right to murder their unborn is in danger.
Not unhinged or delusional.
The memo has gone out: This is a WEDGE issue. They have a terrible economy, overrun borders here, and foreign policy in collapse.
Rats have NOTHING to run on.
But...
lies and distortions.
“Republicans and the war on women. They are taking away your birth control” etc.
That’s all they got and they’ll play that card again and again.
“Lincoln Mitchell has over a decade of experience working in political development and consulting. In addition to serving as Chief of Party for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Georgia from 2002-2004, Lincoln has worked on democracy and governance related issues in the former Soviet Union, where he has advised businesses and other organizations as well, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Lincoln also was on the faculty of Columbia University’s School of International Affairs from 2006-2013 and worked for years as a political consultant in New York City advising and managing domestic political campaigns. “
Everything and more than I EVER wanted to know about this dolt
That's not what the Supremes ruled. They ruled that Hobby Lobby couldn't be forced to pay for that contraception. The women still have access to it.
The author is a liar. And a poor liar.
/johnny
IN the words of Leftist Regressives who hailed the SC’s ruling on Obamacare- It’s SETTLED Law, Get Over It.
Now the government has taken it upon themselves to mandate a very high level of insurance for every employee.
That takes away one of the employer's tools for building a successful business.
If they continue along the same path, they will mandate that private enterprise employees be governed by civil service regulations which determine how, when, and which "benefits" the employer must provide. Maybe they should provide pay scales for each classification of employee and when they are entitled to pay raises and inflation adjustments. Let's not forget about telling employers how many employees of which kind they need and how they must post job vacancies.
Isn't this the classic definition of socialism?
The article was written by a fool.
The supreme court decision has nothing to do with women’s health.
The same health care for women is available today that was available last week.
The author is a hysterical fool.
As opposed to the Government telling workers how to spend the money they earn at their jobs....
True, plus statements like:
This decision raises the question of whether the Supreme Court will next rule that employers can tell workers how to spend the money they earn at their jobs.
kinda proves that she doesn't know how to form a cogent argument. Man, talk about non-sequiturs...
The author seems brain damaged.
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