Should Religious Exemptions to Obamacare’s Individual Mandate be Expanded? (H.R. 1201)

What is H.R. 1201?

(Updated April 21, 2019)

This bill — known as the Equitable Access to Care and Health Act, or EACH Act — would expand Obamacare’s religious conscience exemption to the individual mandate to maintain health insurance coverage for individuals who rely solely on a religious method of healing, and for whom the acceptance of medical health services would be inconsistent with their religious beliefs. The individual mandate was repealed effective in the upcoming 2019 tax year by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, so this would expand the religious exemption for the rest of 2018.

Specifically, the bill would provide an exemption from the individual mandate if an individual files an affidavit as part of their annual income tax return stating that they don’t have the required insurance because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.

Argument in favor

Obamacare already grants religious exemptions to the individual mandate to individuals whose religious organizations are recognized by the Social Security Administration. This bill merely expands the religious exemptions by allowing individuals to file affidavits stating their beliefs with their annual income tax returns for the last year the individual mandate is in effect.

Argument opposed

Allowing individuals to decline health insurance may be dangerous on an individual level, as many illnesses require modern medicine for treatment. Additionally, depending on the number who claim religious exemptions, exempting too many people from the individual mandate may weakness the overall healthcare market by taking too many people out of the system.

Impact

Religious objectors to medical health services; religious communities; Obamacare; Social Security Administration (SSA); and Internal Revenue Services (IRS).

Cost of H.R. 1201

The CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation have estimated that this bill would reduce the deficit by $31 million over the FY 2019-2028 period.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) introduced this bill to protect religious freedom by expanding the religious conscience exemption under Obamacare:

“Six years later, Obamacare continues to violate the religious freedom of many of my constituents by forcing them to buy health insurance against their faith or otherwise face a penalty. “The EACH Act simply broadens the religious exemption to ensure those who rely solely on a religious method of healing, like Christian Scientists, are not forced to purchase health insurance when these services violate their religious beliefs. This change is necessary to protect the religious liberties that every member of Congress swore to uphold.”

Americans United, which advocates for separation of church and state, opposes this bill, arguing that it’s a way for members of certain religious groups to “have their cake and eat it too”:

“[U]nder the EACH Act, Christian Scientists can refuse to purchase health insurance, yet still obtain certain medical care including routine dental, vision, and hearing services, midwifery services and vaccinations… [t]he insurance mandate, therefore, isn’t actually a religious burden on these individuals, as these individuals don’t object to insurance itself.”

Rita Swan, President of Children’s Healthcare is a Legal Duty (CHILD), and a former Christian Scientist whose son died from spinal meningitis after 12 days of prayer treatment by a Christian Scientist practitioner, has also argued against this bill. Ms. Swan contends that children could be harmed if their parents are exempt from purchasing health insurance.

There are 21 bipartisan cosponsors of this bill, including 18 Republicans and three Democrats.

The Christian Science Church, whose members would be affected by this bill’s passage, has lobbied aggressively in favor of this bill. Actor Val Kilmer, who is a committed Christian Scientist, supports this bill, and visited Capitol Hill to lobby for a previous version of this bill in 2013.

Of Note: Currently, Obamacare provides for a religious conscience exemption to the individual mandate. Implementing regulations issued by the Administration have thus far allowed individuals to qualify for this exemption if they are members of a religion already recognized by the Social Security Administration (SSA). However, the SSA excludes many religious organizations that provide health, education, and charitable services, and therefore their members are currently ineligible for the individual mandate exemption.

Media:

• Sponsoring Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) Press Release
  
• Republican Policy Committee
  
• Americans United Bulletin (Opposed)