The most interesting thing about the Hobby Lobby discussion is . . .

Last updated on: July 1, 2014 at 7:25 pm by Jane the Actuary

The most interesting thing about the Hobby Lobby discussion is . . . 2014-07-01T19:25:00-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

No, not that the Democrats are exaggerating the significance of the ruling so that they can push the “War on Women” storyline. Nor, in contrast, the fact that the ruling is fairly narrow by virtue of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act wording that the government has to use the “the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling governmental interest.” See Ann Althouse’s write-up, among others, on the topic; she draws a contrast between this and anti-discrimination laws to explain.

Look, I’m not even going to debate the issue of whether contraception is a “preventive treatment” and whether that means pregnancy is a disease, or whether it’s a consumer product.

But everyone’s flipping out: “OMG, what if the Jehovah’s Witnesses decided it violated their religious principles to cover blood transfusions? Companies can now do whatever they want as long as they claim it’s in their religion!” (See here for the becoming-famous Ginsberg line.)

And it occurred to me that this “worst case scenario” is actually fairly instructive.

Imagine if there were a significant number of Jehovah’s Witnesses running companies, or closely-held corporations, and that they believed that if they provided health care coverage to their employees which included blood transfusions, they’d be enabling a sin. I skimmed the article on the topic in Wikipedia but it’s not clear to me if they view this as something required only of their adherents, like keeping kosher or observing the Sabbath for Jews, or a general moral code applicable to everyone.

But let’s assume its the latter.

It’s still not a problem. Blood transfusions are a component of medical treatment — after an accident, in the course of surgery, and so on. It shouldn’t be that difficult to split out the claims value of the blood transfusion component of such surgeries, based on the mountain of data that insurers have available to them. Then an insurer could design a standard policy which excludes transfusions, and an additional rider which includes them, and there shouldn’t be any risk of anti-selection in the rider-policies because this is true insurance, for serious medical needs, the cost should be relatively minor, and yet everyone working at a JW-employer should have the common sense to know, when the mailing arrives from the insurance company, to select the “blood transfusion” rider.

But imagine a “contraception” rider — it doesn’t work, does it? Who would choose a contraception rider? Pretty much only those who know that they’ll be using contraception, and that the contraceptive of their choice is more expensive than average, so that, even with an at-cost policy, they figure they’ll save money. In other words, there’ll be an immediate death spiral, as the IUD users sign up but not the generic-pill users.

Which all just highlights the problem with contraception being a part of an insurance policy, when it’s a known, predictable, and, for most people a managably-small expense.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 1, 2014

Putting two plus two together = Brave New World

Next Post

July 2, 2014 Next up: the Affordable Car Act? (more updates)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Golgotha" literally mean?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Place of death Skull place Suffering ground Crucifixion hill