Religiously affiliated colleges, universities avoid paying directly for birth control in rule

The Obama administration announced Friday a rule on student health plans that will allow some religiously affiliated colleges and universities to avoid directly paying for the costs of mandated contraception coverage.

The Washington Post: Birth Control Rule Won't Apply To All Student Plans At Colleges, White House Says
The Obama administration's controversial birth control health insurance coverage rule will not apply to a type of plan used by about 200,000 college and graduate students, officials said Friday (Aizenman, 3/16).

CQ HealthBeat: Administration Announces Moves On Contraceptive Coverage, Student Health Plans
The Obama administration announced late Friday that student health plans offered by universities must comply with consumer protections required under the health law. However, if those plans are offered by religiously affiliated organizations that object on moral grounds to the requirement for coverage of contraceptives, the sponsor would not have to directly pay the costs of birth control. Instead, the insurer with which the university contracts to provide the student health plan would have to pay for the contraceptives without charge (Reichard, 3/16).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: New Rule Cuts Student Health Plans Temporary Breaks
Beginning next school year, student health insurance will fall in line with many of the requirements established under the 2010 health law -- with some temporary exceptions announced Friday in new rules released by the Obama administration (Torres, 3/16).