By Pete Kasperowicz - 04/29/13 05:05 PM ET House Republicans and Democrats have joined together to re-introduce a bill that would expand the religious conscience exemptions under ObamaCare.
Under the Equitable Access to Care and Health (EACH) Act, individuals would have the option of being exempted from the Affordable Healthcare Act's mandate to buy health insurance. People could avoid the mandate by filing an affidavit as part of their tax return saying their religious beliefs keep them from buying insurance that meets federal standards.
However, anyone filing this affidavit who then uses healthcare would lose their right to the exemption from the insurance mandate.
"We believe the EACH Act balances a respect for religious diversity against the need to prevent fraud and abuse," Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and William Keating (D-Mass.) wrote in a letter seeking support for their bill."It is imperative we expand the religious conscience exemption now as the Administration is already developing a process to verify the various exemptions to the individual mandate," they wrote.
Religious exemption from ObamaCare has come up before, including the ruling from the Obama administration that religious-affiliated organizations must provide health insurance that covers contraception. The EACH Act, however, is unrelated to that issue, and deals only with exemptions from the insurance mandate.
The bill, H.R. 1814, enjoyed bipartisan support last year, and this year was introduced with 43 co-sponsors.
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