2 Responses to “Complaint sent to Inspector General of Health and Human services”

1. courage
   January 3rd, 2014 @ 6:26 pm

   My sister has been a member of the Little Sisters of the Poor for over 25+yrs. The Little Sisters of the Poor have been serving the poor and elderly in the U.S. for over 175yrs.

   Sotomayor issues temporary injunction against HHS contraception mandate
   POSTED AT 10:02 AM ON JANUARY 1, 2014 BY ED MORRISSEY

   It’s not much of an injunction, but it’s enough to put a stop to its enforcement for a couple of days, at least. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Barack Obama appointee to the high court, issued the order just hours before the mandate would have gone into effect (via Frank Weathers at Patheos):

   Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama’s health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control coverage.

   Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s decision came after a different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the U.S. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday’s start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

   Sotomayor acted on a request from an organization of Catholic nuns in Denver, the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. Its request for an emergency stay had been denied earlier in the day by a federal appeals court.

   The government is “temporarily enjoined from enforcing against applicants the contraceptive coverage requirements imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Sotomayor said in the order. She gave government officials until 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) Friday to respond to her order.
   In other words, this order could get lifted almost as soon as it was imposed, assuming that HHS responds in time — and they will. Sotomayor could also leave the injunction in place until the court has a chance to hear all sides, which would take months but is inevitable anyway. The Obama administration will have a difficult time explaining how a delay would hurt its interests more than those who are being forced to choose between compliance and their religious beliefs, but they have occasionally succeeded at doing so.

   Would Sotomayor take much convincing on that point? I would have doubted it, but before yesterday I would have doubted that Sotomayor would have issued this injunction, even for a couple of days. It’s worth noting, though, that Sotomayor’s isn’t the only injunction in place:

   Sotomayor’s decision to delay the contraceptive portion of the law was joined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision.
   Even if Sotomayor rescinds the injunction later this week, the lower court’s injunction might remain in place. The DC Circuit has jurisdiction over the operations of the federal government, which would effectively stymie HHS from enforcing the mandate anywhere, at least theoretically.

   Everyone knew that the HHS mandate would end up at the Supreme Court. It has now arrived there, and I would assume that the rest of the court will be anxious to settle the matter so that the patchwork of decisions from lower courts can be resolved permanently.

   Update: Doug Mataconis offers his analysis:

   I’m not sure that you can draw any conclusions about either how the stay might ultimately be handled by Justice Sotomayor, or the full Court, from this action. In some respects, granting the stay in this particular case is likely the most ideal solution until the Court can hear opposing arguments on a more permanent stay via the Federal Government’s briefs. Nor would I draw any particular conclusions about the fact that it was Justice Sotomayor who issued the temporary stay. I suspect that the main reason she granted the stay was simply for the purposes of maintaining the status quo until she, or the full Court, can rule on the matter. That said, if the Supreme Court does ultimately grant a stay pending appeal in this case, then it could be an indication that there is a sufficient majority on the Supreme Court skeptical of the mandate under both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to potentially strike down the mandate at some point in the future. In the end, though, that too would still be pure guess work.
   There were a number of rulings yesterday on the contraception mandate, which Doug runs down well. He also notes that the Supreme Court already has one HHS contraception mandate on the docket for 2014, and might end up consolidating all of these issues into one decision around June.

   https:// hotair.com/archives/2014/01/01/sotomayor-issues-temporary-injunction-against-hhs-contraception-mandate/

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   Justice Dept. opposes block on contraceptive mandate
   Aamer Madhani and Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 3:58 p.m. EST January 3, 2014
   The government responded to an order by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

   Affordable Care Act
   (Photo: Brennan Linsley, AP)
   STORY HIGHLIGHTS
   Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor had ordered delay of the contraceptive portion of the law
   More than 90 legal challenges have been filed over the requirement
   Attorney for Little Sisters of the Poor: Government is “trying to bully nuns”

   WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Friday called on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to lift her order temporarily blocking a part of the president’s signature health care law that requires some religious-affiliated organizations to cover forms of contraception in their health care plans.

   The Justice Department said in court papers filed Friday that the challenge to the contraceptive requirement, filed by the Catholic nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor for the Aged, did not impose a “substantial burden” and the Denver-based nuns “fail to satisfy the demanding standard for the extraordinary and rarely granted relief they seek.”

   Sotomayor’s ruling on Tuesday came at the request of the Little Sisters, but more than 90 legal challenges have been filed over the contraceptive requirement.

   The justice’s decision to delay the contraceptive portion of the law was joined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision.

   READ: The government’s response

   The Justice Department disagreed in its filing on Friday, arguing that the nuns’ group was already eligible for exemption “with a stroke of their own pen” under the Affordable Care Act by certifying that they had religious objections to such coverage and that blocking enforcement was unnecessary.

   “They need only self-certify that they are a non-profit organization that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, and then provide a copy of their self-certification to the third-party administrator of their self-insured group health plan,” argued Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. in the government’s filing.

   But in a reply filed by the Little Sisters lead counsel Mark Rienzi late Friday, the nuns’ attorney countered that the government is “simply blind to the religious exercise at issue” and that “minimizing someone’s religious beliefs does not make them disappear.”

   “The Little Sisters…cannot execute the form because they cannot deputize a third party to sin on their behalf,” Rienzi added in the filing. “(The government’s) casual dismissal of that religiously forbidden act as a mere ‘stroke of their own pen’ perpetuates their claim below that the Little Sisters are fighting an ‘invisible dragon.'”

   Under the Obama administration accommodation, the insurers or third-party administrators of religious-affiliated groups would have to provide contraceptives to the organization’s employees at no charge.

   But the administration’s fix was still problematic for organizations like the Little Sisters, whose third-party administrator is the Christian Brothers Employee Benefits Trust — also a religious organization.

   Rienzi said on Friday that the federal government in its latest position “has started the new year the same way that it ended the old one: trying to bully nuns into violating their religious beliefs.”

   Earlier this week, following Sotomayor issuing her order, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called on President Obama to temporarily exempt religious institutions from fines if their insurance plans exclude sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and contraceptives.

   Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville noted in a letter to Obama that the White House has offered exemptions to various individuals and groups, including the decision to delay fines for businesses with 50 or more employees who drop or do not offer health insurance at all in 2014. The fines of $2,000 a year per employee go into effect in 2015.

   “I understand that legal issues in these cases will ultimately be settled by the Supreme Court,” he added. “In the meantime, however, many religious employers have not obtained the temporary relief they need in time to avoid being subjected to the HHS (Health and Human Services) mandate beginning January 1. I urge you, therefore, to consider offering temporary relief from this mandate, as you have for so many other individuals and groups facing other requirements under the ACA.”

   Contributing: Kevin Johnson

   Little Sisters Injunction Opp

   https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/03/justice-department-sotomayor-block-contraceptive-mandate-obamacare-aca/4303277/

2. courage
   January 4th, 2014 @ 8:15 am

   The Country NEEDS to recognize that the Little Sisters of the Poor are ONLY a fractional part of the many Christian Charities that serve the people–young and old, disabled and abandoned, orphaned and much more…Most of these Charities RELY on the generous support of you and me. Their budgets do NOT allow for astronomical fines for following their Christian conscious. Depleting their resources through GOVERNMENT HHS FINES WILL close their doors and significant job loss(es) will occur, By the way, the LSP already supply Health Insurance to their employees.

   Get to know the Little Sisters of the Poor. They are the now the opposition figurehead for rejecting the HHS Contraceptive mandate…

   https://littlesistersofthepoor.org/

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   Tradition of Begging

   To provide for the needs of the aged poor, Saint Jeanne Jugan (a French woman who founded the Little Sisters) walked the roads of Brittany seeking alms. Knocking on doors, she asked for money and gifts in kind—whatever was needed for her poor. She was recognized by the begging basket she carried.
   The Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God had introduced Jeanne to the practice of the begging and given her her first basket. Like them, her vision of family extended far beyond those with whom she shared her life. She believed that because God is our Father, all men and women are brothers and sisters—members of one family—and thus responsible for one another. She sought to involve people from many walks of life in her mission of hospitality, gratefully accepting whatever they could contribute in time, treasure or talent.
   To an impatient benefactor who asked her why she burdened herself with all those old people, Jeanne replied, “We shall share them, Sir. You will provide for them and I will care for their needs.”
   So trusting was Jeanne in the Providence of God and the goodness of others that, in her old age, she intervened at a decisive moment in our history to ensure that the Congregation would never accept guaranteed forms of income. To do so, she felt, would betray our trust in Providence. That is why, to this day, we do not accept endowments, perpetual trusts and other forms of permanent income. To some people this seems insane. Over one hundred seventy years and over 200 homes throughout the world are proof of the efficacy of Jeanne’s unique form of strategic planning!

   Just as Jeanne was recognized by her begging basket, today’s collecting Little Sisters are known by the van in which they make their daily rounds, visiting businesses and markets asking for food and other commodities to help offset our operating expenses. On weekends they visit local parishes to ask for support. They plan mailings and organize fund raising events in favor of our homes. These Little Sisters carry on the tradition of begging so dear to our foundress.
   As government funds continue to dwindle it is getting harder and harder to make ends meet. Medicaid and Medicare cover only about 60 percent of our operating expenses. In today’s economy, we must count on community support more than ever. Jeanne always thanked her benefactors by praying for them—and she thanked God at the same time. “God has blessed me,” she said, “because I always thanked his Providence… What gratitude we owe our benefactors … What could we do for the elderly without them?”
   Like Saint Jeanne Jugan, we recognize that our benefactors are indispensable partners in our mission. And like her, we pray for them everyday!

   https://littlesistersofthepoor.org/ourmission/tradition-of-begging

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   Vow of Hospitality

   By our vow of hospitality we promise God to consecrate ourselves exclusively to the service of the elderly poor. We welcome them into our homes, form one family with them, accompany them from day to day and care for them with love and respect until God calls them home.
   Through our vow of hospitality the Church has given us a mandate to prolong Christ’s mission of charity—to convey to the elderly, in the concrete realities of everyday life, the kindness and love of God for them, his eldest children.
   Consecrated hospitality is a witness to the mercy and compassionate love of the heart of Jesus. It is based on the words of Christ himself:
   “Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7)
   “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me … sick and you visited me.… Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:35–40).
   Our foundress, Saint Jeanne Jugan, echoed these words of our Lord as she often said, “Never forget that the poor are Our Lord. In caring for the poor say to yourself: This is for my Jesus—what a great grace!”

   As Hospitaller religious our lives are made up of many humble, hidden tasks. We serve the elderly day and night, striving to meet their physical needs, to make them happy and to minister to them spiritually. We accomplish our mission together as a community, each one bringing her gifts and talents to the work of hospitality.
   The accompaniment and care of the dying is the summit of our vocation. In today’s world it is an ever more powerful witness of the culture of life. By the look in his eyes or by the silence of his whole being, the elderly person who is near death asks us this question: “Does my life still have any value? Is it worth living?” To each person we respond with a resounding yes!
   Thanks to Saint Jeanne Jugan’s presence among us, we continue her spirit as we pursue our mission of hospitality today. Reflecting on the canonization of our foundress, Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I., referred to our homes as icons of mercy:
   “The quiet but eloquent radiance of Jeanne’s life continues to shine out in the lives of the Little Sisters of the Poor today. I can attest to this through my personal experience, as for a number of years my aunt was cared for in one of their homes. These residences are icons of mercy where Christ is welcomed and served in the elderly poor with the utmost respect for their dignity. May God be praised and may the entire Church rejoice at the public proclamation of the extraordinary holiness of Jeanne Jugan.”

   https://littlesistersofthepoor.org/ourmission/vow-of-hospitality

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