Hobby Lobby

[badgeguy]

You know, seems to me from a business sense that companies would be ok to have their female Empoyees taking birth control. Isn't one of the big complaints my many companies is loss of productivity and time from women who are pregnant?

Regardless of religious belief, I was always under the assumption that companies were glad to be able to increase their profits, and if they have employees who aren't gonna go on maternity leave that means that they are getting full productivity from them.

Just a thought....

[DubaiSis]

Not when you think it is your responsibility to control women, since they can't take care of themselves or make the best decisions on their own behalf.

[agzg]

I keep funneling my $$$ into Jo-Ann Fabrics, since I prefer to spend with people who view me as a whole person in myself rather than a potential mother.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by badgeguy

You know, seems to me from a business sense that companies would be ok to have their female Empoyees taking birth control. Isn't one of the big complaints my many companies is loss of productivity and time from women who are pregnant?

Regardless of religious belief, I was always under the assumption that companies were glad to be able to increase their profits, and if they have employees who aren't gonna go on maturity leave that means that they are getting full productivity from them.

Just a thought....

Hobby Lobby is never open on Sundays, to enable employees to spend that day with their families and to respect Sunday as a day for worship and rest. They willingly give up whatever profit could be earned by staying open.

Please tell me "maturity" was a typo and that you know it is maternity leave!

[badgeguy]

Yeah, it was an autocorrect.....typing on my phone....thanks

[badgeguy]

Just like chick fil a.....

I think the one day versus a six weeks of essentially paying two people is what one would think businesses would want...

I'm all for choices. Each individual has a choice. Business and government shouldn't interfere with those.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by badgeguy

Just like chick fil a.....

I think the one day versus a six weeks of essentially paying two people is what one would think businesses would want...

I'm all for choices. Each individual has a choice. Business and government shouldn't interfere with those.

The two scenarios aren't equivalent. Businesses that close one day a week every week are closed for what comes close to two months' time. That's a significant amount of profit to decide that you don't want to pursue. Its a business decision to be made, pure and simple.

American women aren't guaranteed paid maternity leave. In fact, only businesses that are large enough to fall under the provisions of the Family Medical Leave Act have to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Do some companies choose to provide paid benefits? Sure, but talking about a retail operation like Hobby Lobby doing so for the vast majority of their hourly employees (who are the most impacted by the company's decision regarding birth control) is just not likely. My point is that if an hourly employee goes on maternity leave there, they're probably not paying two people.

To your second point, Hobby Lobby is not telling their employees that they can't decide to use any form of birth control. Just that they don't want to pay for it.

Does it make sense to pay for birth control as a business decision? Maybe. It depends on your business model.

[AGDee]

They don't pay for it anyway, the insurance company does. Unless they are self insured (and few companies are- usually the biggest of the big companies), they do not pay that bill. I don't see any insurance company saying "well we don't cover IUDs and PlanB for this employer, let's lower their insurance."

[Dnpgopenguins]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Exactly. I have a couple friends who were prescribed birth control for other conditions. One of them has an IUD for PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome). Another was prescribed birth control pills for acne**. If the pill didn't cause extreme side effects for me, I would have continued taking them for just that reason; my skin had never looked better!

**I know that the Hobby Lobby case doesn't involve BC pills, but if this passes, you can bet other companies will probably try to exclude coverage for those as well.

I actually just realized this. However, where I am from there are a lot of local businesses that are unwilling to pay for BC regardless of what it is used for, IE to prevent pregnancies or to treat PCOS. Have PCOS I am a little angry that I have to make choices where to work based on if i can afford my medical treatment. This is actually a concern that I am considering when thinking about transferring to a 4 yr school. IE if i stay in state my state health insurance is good to go, if i leave the state I am not sure if I will be able to afford my meds. Or i might just go to school in the UK and not have to worry about any of this.


Or the case where a company won't cover treatment for AIDS, because that's a "gay disease." The possibilities are endless… and outrageous.

When talking to people about this issue I like to bring up something that is relevant, like treatment of cancer. What if a company has to right to say, oh well Breast cancer is less likely in women who don't smoke, exercise regularly, ect. So, because of this it is my personal belief that women can control if they get cancer (yeah I know people who think this) so my company is not going to pay for breast cancer treatment. Well, I don't think a lot of people are going to like that. In my opinion it is the same thing. Companies should not be able to pick and choose which illnesses they pay for because of their own personal beliefs.

This is what I keep wondering. Let's pretend it's the CEO. What happens when a new CEO takes over and they want to cover these forms of birth control? And let's say 10 years later, another CEO comes in and refuses to cover them all over again?

People can say, "speak with your feet," or whatever, but what happens when you go to a new company and they implement a similar restriction? Or maybe they win a case where they can refuse treatment for some other medication that you need?

If this passes, the court system is going to overflow with desired exceptions from companies.

As other people have mentioned it all boils down to the ability to leave. Growing up in a small town it is very difficult to change jobs. I encountered the problem with the sentiment, "oh if you quite your current job to come work here, how do we know you are not going to quite this job to go work somewhere else?" Yeah, i was stuck in a job that i hated for too long because of this. I was lucky that I found a job in the a near by bigger city that was fine with me commuting, but it was not easy. I really don't understand why people have these thoughts. Is it cause their life is perfect and they have never had to deal with a situation like this?

IDK, I am just venting.
DNP

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by AGDee

They don't pay for it anyway, the insurance company does. Unless they are self insured (and few companies are- usually the biggest of the big companies), they do not pay that bill. I don't see any insurance company saying "well we don't cover IUDs and PlanB for this employer, let's lower their insurance."

Every company that I have worked for in the last 12 years has been self insured, and they range from small regionals to internationals. I know you have some knowledge about the industry, but insurers tailor the plans based on what the employers are willing to pay for/offer. So in essence, employer money would be paying for it.

For the record, I think birth control should be mandatory and you're only allowed to get off it when you've proven that you can be a responsible parent. Kidding. Sort of.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

For the record, I think birth control should be mandatory and you're only allowed to get off it when you've proven that you can be a responsible parent. Kidding. Sort of.

As if there isn't enough sexism, classism, racism, and ethnocentrism in the world.

I don't believe in required birth control or any equivalent. Such restrictions are the opposite extreme of limits to BC and the pro-life movement.

I believe in a medium. I believe there should be world sex education and reproductive education that teaches people that sexuality isn't shameful, reproductive rights are important, having children is a choice and not a requirement or obligation, and children are preventable without abstinence, more people in the world need to be given the resources to make reproductive choices rather than mistakes. I'm tired of people acting as though having children is required and unavoidable. I'm tired of people acting like they don't know how reproduction happens as though children just show up at their doorsteps. I'm tired of people making womanhood synonymous with motherhood; and adulthood synonymous with parenthood. And I'm tired of parents around the world spending more time planning when and how they will defecate than they spend planning to have children and learning that parenting is way more stress than it is romanticized fun and cuteness.

[pinksequins]

Self- insurance typically addresses the company's losses (property and casualty, professional liability) , not the insuarance that it offers its employees. Insurance offered to employees is not self- insurance.

[amIblue?]

^^^ I really was kidding. The "sort of" part comes in when I see how miserable children's lives can be when they are unplanned for and subsequently unwanted (abuse, neglect, etc.) but in all honesty, I am not in any way in favor of any type of authority of the nature that I commented about.

[amIblue?]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

Self- insurance typically addresses the company's losses (property and casualty, professional liability) , not the insuarance that it offers its employees. Insurance offered to employees is not self- insurance.

It does, but health insurance can also be self-funded. Wiki is not the best source, but I think this explains things fairly well.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-funded_health_care

[pinksequins]

I get the "sort of" in the second paragraph. : ). I was looking at the first sentence stating that most of the companies for which you worked was self- insured. (That would be the company assuming the risk for its own losses rather than buying a policy). : )