My cousin Ana's response to Bill O'Reilly
Dear Mr. O’Reilly,
Your perception that this contraception attack on women is just an attack on our freedoms is truly misguided. And based on how you cut off Guests who oppose your beliefs, it is understandable how you may not have a full understanding of the Affordable Health Care Act.
It is the federal government’s job to protect American Consumers and Employees from shady dishonest Employers and Insurance Companies from exploiting and discriminating against them. Which means Employers and Insurance Companies are not FREE to exploit and/or take advantage of people.
The government does this by imposing basic common sense employment and consumer protection laws such as minimum wages and other labor laws, as well as basic consumer protection laws. The Affordable Health Care Act is there to make sure that insurance companies include a basic amount of minimal guaranteed coverage in the policies that they offer to all consumers.
And since 98% of women of childbearing age use contraception as a part of their monthly/annual reproductive wellness health, that coverage should be included as a part of the basic minimal guaranteed coverage. If not, then the insurance company/and or employer is discriminating against a female employee because the female employee deserves the same basic coverage for her needs than that of a man and his specific basic needs. It would be as if the insurance company decided it did not want to cover prostate health care for men because they don’t think it should be necessarily covered.
Also, Women are not demanding "free stuff." Women work hard at their jobs in order to "earn" their salaries and "earn" employee benefits including their insurance benefits. These benefits are not given away for free, and in many cases, these Women are paying for a portion of those premiums through deductions on their paychecks to help the employer pay for those premiums.
And last, but not least, once the Church goes into business employing and servicing the general public who may or may not be Catholic, then the Church must follow the same Federal and State Employment and Consumer laws every other Employer follows. This is because an Employer’s religious liberty ends where the Employee’s religious liberty begins. Nowhere in the first Amendment does it state that a person can enforce their religious values on their employees.
Also, it’s not that The Affordable Health Care Act is forcing the Catholic Employers to go out and purchase birth control or pass them out in Church. If the Church wants to offer health insurance to it’s employees, then all they are doing is purchasing health insurance. What the Employee chooses to use within that coverage, is the choice of the employee and not the Church. It would be as if the Church decided it was not going to pay its employees a salary because that salary may or may not go towards Contraception. That employee works to earn a salary and other employment benefits, what they do with that salary and benefit, is not the concern or the business of the employer.
You really love to throw around the first Amendment, but I don’t think you know it completely, because it clearly states that CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION.
And I may never know if you ever read this or share this point of view with your viewers since it does not reflect your personal agenda, but at least I know that I sent it to you.
Sincerely,
Ana Zins
Your perception that this contraception attack on women is just an attack on our freedoms is truly misguided. And based on how you cut off Guests who oppose your beliefs, it is understandable how you may not have a full understanding of the Affordable Health Care Act.
It is the federal government’s job to protect American Consumers and Employees from shady dishonest Employers and Insurance Companies from exploiting and discriminating against them. Which means Employers and Insurance Companies are not FREE to exploit and/or take advantage of people.
The government does this by imposing basic common sense employment and consumer protection laws such as minimum wages and other labor laws, as well as basic consumer protection laws. The Affordable Health Care Act is there to make sure that insurance companies include a basic amount of minimal guaranteed coverage in the policies that they offer to all consumers.
And since 98% of women of childbearing age use contraception as a part of their monthly/annual reproductive wellness health, that coverage should be included as a part of the basic minimal guaranteed coverage. If not, then the insurance company/and or employer is discriminating against a female employee because the female employee deserves the same basic coverage for her needs than that of a man and his specific basic needs. It would be as if the insurance company decided it did not want to cover prostate health care for men because they don’t think it should be necessarily covered.
Also, Women are not demanding "free stuff." Women work hard at their jobs in order to "earn" their salaries and "earn" employee benefits including their insurance benefits. These benefits are not given away for free, and in many cases, these Women are paying for a portion of those premiums through deductions on their paychecks to help the employer pay for those premiums.
And last, but not least, once the Church goes into business employing and servicing the general public who may or may not be Catholic, then the Church must follow the same Federal and State Employment and Consumer laws every other Employer follows. This is because an Employer’s religious liberty ends where the Employee’s religious liberty begins. Nowhere in the first Amendment does it state that a person can enforce their religious values on their employees.
Also, it’s not that The Affordable Health Care Act is forcing the Catholic Employers to go out and purchase birth control or pass them out in Church. If the Church wants to offer health insurance to it’s employees, then all they are doing is purchasing health insurance. What the Employee chooses to use within that coverage, is the choice of the employee and not the Church. It would be as if the Church decided it was not going to pay its employees a salary because that salary may or may not go towards Contraception. That employee works to earn a salary and other employment benefits, what they do with that salary and benefit, is not the concern or the business of the employer.
You really love to throw around the first Amendment, but I don’t think you know it completely, because it clearly states that CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION.
And I may never know if you ever read this or share this point of view with your viewers since it does not reflect your personal agenda, but at least I know that I sent it to you.
Sincerely,
Ana Zins