Grandfathered plans that hadn’t changed significantly after the health law passed do not have to offer preventive health care - including contraception - without cost-sharing. Most health plans had to cover contraceptive services for plan years beginning on or after Aug. The Department of Health and Human Services set the contraception requirement based on an Institute of Medicine study that recommended prescription contraception and services, including all FDA-approved methods of contraception, be included as preventive services for women. If the employers had decided to drop coverage altogether, Hobby Lobby would have paid roughly $26 million in penalties and Conestoga $1.8 million, far less than the fine for not covering all FDA-approved methods of birth control. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito stated that Hobby Lobby would have faced fines of $475 million a year and Conestoga $33 million for excluding some forms of birth control from their health plans. The contraceptive guidelines apply to women only. These large employers that don’t offer any coverage face a fine of $2,000 for most employees. Employers with 50 or more workers that offer coverage that doesn’t meet that standard would face fines of $100 a day per worker.

Those methods include birth control pills, intrauterine devices and sterilization procedures. What does the health law say about contraception coverage?Īs part of the law’s coverage of preventive health services, health insurance plans are required to cover all FDA-approved contraception methods for women without any cost-sharing, such as deductibles or copayments.

The ruling also covers a Hobby Lobby subsidiary, the Mardel Christian bookstores. The companies had argued that several types of contraceptives violate their owners’ religious beliefs. The court’s majority said that the for-profit companies that filed suit - Hobby Lobby Stores, a nationwide chain of 500 arts and crafts stores, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a maker of custom cabinets - didn’t have to offer female employees all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives as part of a package of preventive services that must be covered without copays or deductibles under the law.

What does it mean? Here are some questions and answers about the case. In a 5-4 decision Monday, the Supreme Court allowed a key exemption to the health law’s contraception coverage requirements when it ruled that closely held for-profit businesses could assert a religious objection to the Obama administration’s regulations.

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