Alone in the Car: Gender Gap Health Insurance vs. Obamacare

The United States of America was set up with a representative form of government using 3 branches or divisions for day-to-day management as well as a checks and balances for its citizens. Those branches are in alphabetical order: executive (the President), judicial (U.S. Supreme Court), and legislative (Congress).

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as "Obamacare" is 2409 pages long. So far as I can research, the President has not read its entirety and neither has the Supreme Court Justices or all the members of Congress (House and Senate). Something is missing here. I could offer a variety of solutions, but I will let my readers carry on with their thoughts and actions on this matter.

The media, both for and against, has been so "gun-ho" for their side, and remember they are a business and need to make a profit just like any other business, so they go after this topic with great gusto, that they have forgotten something.

This, at least partly, has turned into a religious fight. I use Roman Catholic owned hospitals as an example but clearly they are not the only employers in this matter that have said they will not adopt Obamacare. They have made it clear they will not, not have they ever, cover certain elements in a health insurance policy contract for their female employees. It is against their religion to do so. With Obamacare, they would be forced to carry such health insurance.

What concerns me is that this was never a religious question for most women but a gender gap question.
Many employers would sign health insurance policy contracts with an insurance company that covered male employees but would not cover female employees for similar coverage. The woman would have to pay out-of-pocket but the male employee would have partial or full coverage. This of course is for same job responsibilities/same salary level. Discussions were way past the "water cooler" stage and actually caused employee and/or employer relationship problems or work environment problems. The employer could easily have solved this by making coverage the same for male and female employees.

Using the example of the Roman Catholic hospitals again, certain female procedures are never done there and likewise it is same to say neither are men's. Both genders know this ahead of time, both are treated equally, and both know to go elsewhere for those operations. 

Employers, please look at your contracts. When it is time for renewal, be prepared to treat all employees the same, even if this means reducing coverage of one group to create a balanced work environment. It will pay off in the long run.