Adam Serwer reports today on the latest GOP attempt to make hay out of the contraception controversy. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) has introduced an amendment to Obamacare that would allow any employer or other healthcare provider to refrain from covering any medical service that is “contrary to the provider’s religious beliefs or moral convictions”:
If Republican leaders get their way and Blunt’s bill becomes law, a boss who regarded overweight people and smokers with moral disgust could exclude coverage of obesity and tobacco screening from his employees’ health plans. A Scientologist employer could deny its employees depression screening because Scientologists believe psychiatry is morally objectionable. A management team that thought HIV victims brought the disease upon themselves could excise HIV screening from its employees’ insurance coverage. Your boss’ personal prejudices, not science or medical expertise, would determine which procedures your insurance would cover for you and your kids.
This bill isn’t going to pass, of course. As with most Republican legislation these days, it’s designed to prove to the true-believer wing of the party that their representatives in Congress are true believers too. The clown show in Washington DC continues apace.
