Will birth-control mandate cost more or less? Yet to be seen

Will requiring insurance companies to provide contraception be cost-neutral, as the Obama administration claims? It is unclear, and so is whether insurance companies will make Catholic institutions pay more. These were the findings of FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer-advocate project funded by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

In support of its claim, the administration cites data from Hawaii's birth-control mandate, which shows health insurance premiums "did not appear" to increase. The study also found the number of pregnancies increased after contraception coverage was required.

But when Pennsylvania considered imposing a similar mandate, a state agency found "the amount of possible savings relative to the cost of the legislation is unclear." Findings were also unclear in Connecticut when officials there looked at whether or not insurance plans saved enough because there were fewer pregnancies to offset the cost of providing coverage. A Texas study found insurance companies would not save enough because women would buy contraception on their own.

A recent survey of 15 insurance companies found six thought costs would increase and another three felt the move would be neutral in cost. None felt they would save money because of the mandate.

"Until better data are available, we're unable to conclude whether the Obama birth-control mandate is likely to result in a net cost increase or not," FactCheck reports.

Obama changes health-insurance rule to placate religious groups that oppose birth control

In an effort to quell a firestorm of controversy, President Obama announced today that his administration change its new rule that requires employers to offer free birth-control coverage in their health insurance plans. The rule has outraged some Roman Catholic leaders, whose tenets prohibit artificial contraception. (Associated Press photo by Susan Walsh)

Today's change essentially requires insurers, rather than religious employers, to cover the cost of coverage for contraception. "Any employer who has a religious objection to providing contraception will not have to provide that service to employees, but in those cases the insurer will be required to reach out directly to the employee and offer contraceptive care free of charge," report Christi Parsons and Kathleen Hennessey of the Los Angeles Times.

Yesterday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined several other speakers in lambasting the original version of the rule, calling it "an assault on religious liberty," reports James R. Carroll of The Courier-Journal.

Obama's adjustment did not appear to placate most critics, but Sister Carol Keehan, president of the Catholic Health Association, said, "The framework developed has responded to the issues we identified that needed to be fixed." (Read more)

C-J finds gaps in medical care for female soldiers, vets

Though women now account for almost 15 percent of active-duty troops in the U.S. military, the medical care they receive is often not on par with that of their male counterparts.

A 2007 Department of Defense report showed that "In half of focus groups, women expressed concerns about a lack of female-specific facilities and equipment, such as machinery to perform mammograms, in field hospitals," The Courier-Journal's Laura Ungar reports. Department of Veterans Affairs "hospitals don't provide obstetrics, for example, and most don't offer mammograms on-site."

Military officials acknowledge more needs to be done, but progress is being made. "Are we perfect? No. But we work our hardest to be," said Laura Boyd, public affairs officers for Fort Campbell's Blanchfield Hospital.

Efforts are being made to boost privacy for women and improve training. The VA has also hired managers to handle women's care and has launched an awareness program in which employers are reminded to assume that any woman who walks in is a veteran. Spending has also gone up, with the VA asking for $270 million in 2012, up $28 million from last year.

Still, the 2007 report found medical care was wanting in field centers. Women complained "about limits on access to gynecological exams, procedures and lab tests; and too few birth-control options in field pharmacies," Ungar reports. "In nearly half the focus groups, women said there was too little privacy in field facilities, and many felt they were seen as whiners for seeking care."

Officials at Blanchfield admit they can't provide all the care women need and do rely on outside providers, such as Vanderbilt University, for complicated cases and for routine wellness services. Most outside providers are within an hour's drive of a VA facility, which Patty Hayes, the VA's director of women's health, acknowledged is "not ideal." Still, there are no plans to provide obstetrics or other specialty care for women at VA hospitals. (Read more)