US Senate rejects Republican birth control challenge (TimesLive)
The Democratic-controlled US Senate has rejected a Republican challenge to President Barack Obama’s policy requiring health insurance coverage for contraceptives in an election-year vote that broke largely along party lines.
Senators voted 51-48 to set aside a measure from Republican Roy Blunt that would have exempted religiously affiliated institutions including Roman Catholic hospitals, universities and charities from a rule requiring free insurance coverage for women’s birth control drugs and devices.
Blunt’s amendment aimed to reverse the Obama administration’s policy requiring health insurance coverage for women’s contraceptives and other preventive services without co-pays or deductibles by allowing health plans and employers to opt out for moral or religious reasons.
Only one Republican, Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, crossed party lines to vote with Democrats after expressing concern that the measure’s broad language could allow health plans and employers to deny a wide range of healthcare benefits.
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Complete article at Times Live : http://bit.ly/ztEewQ
