May 16, 2012 / MariaNews.com 

Franciscan U in Steubenville to drop student health insurance because of ObamaCare cost increases

A Catholic university in Ohio said Tuesday it is being forced to end a student health insurance program over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate and costs associated with other provisions of the health care overhaul.

Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, said it has so far excluded contraceptive services and products from its health insurance policy for students and will not participate in a plan that “requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.”

In its decision to drop coverage, the school cited the contraception mandate, but also a requirement that the maximum coverage amount be increased to $100,000 for policyholders — claiming that would have made premiums skyrocket. A university official told Fox News Radio the students’ basic $600 policy was going to double in cost in the fall and triple next year and that the school’s insurance provider said the increases were the result of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“This is putting people in a position where they are having to choose between their faith and their morality, and now an unjust cost,” said Mike Hernon, the school’s vice president of advancement. “These sorts of regulations from the government are forcing our hand in a way that’s really wrong.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/15/catholic-university-drops-student-health-insurance-cites-obamacare/#ixzz1v2PG5EGZ

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