Stuart Gerson, a Member of the Firm in the Litigation and Health Care and Life Sciences practices, in the Washington, DC and New York offices, was quoted in an article titled "Hobby Lobby Case Has Little Impact on ACA."
Following is an excerpt:
In certain situations, the Obama administration has permitted religiously affiliated, not-for-profit employers a workaround that places the mandate on the organizations' health insurers rather than the employers themselves to offer and fund the workers' no-cost contraceptive coverage separately. But a for-profit company like Hobby Lobby does not qualify for the workaround. ...
Stuart Gerson, senior partner of Epstein Becker Green, and former acting U.S. Attorney General under President George H.W. Bush, says a point of discussion today will be an assessment of the burden on Hobby Lobby in providing health coverage that includes no-cost contraceptives. The administration will argue that the burden is slight.
Although he doesn't have a prediction on how the court will rule later in the spring or early summer, Gerson says the burden does seem small because ultimately the individual employees of Hobby Lobby will decide for themselves whether to obtain and use contraceptives. ...
"The fundamental issue is, under the governance of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, whether that kind of company enjoys the same protection as a not-for-profit, cause-oriented entity," Gerson says. "A lot of people liken this to the issue that was in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case."
