What if a closely held employer cuts birth control benefits?

Officials at the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) all worked together to describe the procedures for eliminating birth control benefits in a short answer to frequently asked questions about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The agencies came up with the answer in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Hobby Lobby vs. Sebelius.

The court ruled that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the parent of CCIIO, failed to make enough of an effort to consider the religious beliefs of the owners of closely held for-profit corporations when they imposed a birth control benefits mandate on those employers. HHS created the mandate by backing an HHS Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) recommendation to include birth control benefits in a basic preventive services benefits package created by PPACA. PPACA requires non-grandfathered major medical plans to cover the package without imposing deductibles or co-payments on the patients.