A Potemkin Village of a compromise

Jimmy Akin writes that the supposed compromise from President Obama is even more evil.

The new policy mandates that insurance companies offer free sterilization, contraception, and abortion-causing drugs as part of their policies. According to President Obama himself:

Under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services — no matter where they work. So that core principle remains. But if a woman’s employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company — not the hospital, not the charity — will be required to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge, without co-pays and without hassles.

Got that?

That’s worse than before.

Under the previous evil policy if you worked for an exempt organization—say, a church—then your employer could offer you an insurance plan that did not include sterilization, contraception, and abortion drugs.

Now there will be no such plans.

It is hard not to infer bad will on the part of the President. This is a Potemkin Village of a compromise, one that if you actually look at it you realize that there is nothing there. Worse it is a masquerade hiding something even worse than the original HHS mandate.

Plus you really have to wonder what magical land of economic theories he believes in. Though I guess he is economically consistent since none of his economic ideas are part of reality. I doubt that there is even a multi-verse where money is not fungible or that businesses take a economic hit and don’t pass it along to the consumer in some way.

By the logic of his economic ideas we could end hunger by having grocery stores simply provide free food.

This is also very insulting that he thinks we are so stupid that an economic gimmick is going to salve our consciences. The only thing they care about is for people to get contraception and sterilization at a perceived lower cost and if freedom of religion gets trampled along the way, oh well.

Back to Jimmy Akin:

The idea that it will be insurance companies that pay for such services is just a shell game. Where are insurance companies going to get the money to pay for these services? They aren’t the Federal Reserve. They aren’t empowered to create money out of nothing the way the Federal Reserve is.
If they’re going to pay doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to provide these things then they are going to pay for them with money they got from someone else.

Who else?

Why! The very same churches, church-related organizations, and individuals who are otherwise paying.

The USCCB has issued a statement that is very diplomatic in terms. Some thing this is a cave, but I trust Archbishop Dolan much more that that. Sure I would have liked a statement that was less diplomatic and I certainly would not call this a “first step in the right direction.” It is a first step, but a first step backwards since the compromise is even worse. A generous interpretation is to see the administration working towards a compromise, but I think seriously they only want a pretense of a compromise.

This probably will provide them with enough cover and I would be very surprised if the liberal Catholics who objected to the mandate would now withdraw their objection. I wish my skepticism to be proven wrong here.

This simply can’t not stand and must be fought tooth and nail and prayer and fasting.

Update: Their is now a more complete and much better statement from the USCCB. Via Te Deum laudamus! They say “Rescission of mandate only complete solution”, I would go farther and say repealing of Obmacare is the only complete solution since this it was caused such government overreach in the first place. We need to go farther than providing religious groups and an exemption, but allow every American employer to follow the dictates of his conscience.