Letters: Healthcare’s tangled web

Re “The nuns vs.Obamacare,� Editorial, Jan. 7

The case of the nuns seeking an exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate speaks to the insanity of linking health insurance to employment. Imagine the outcry if employers were required to offer car insurance but for whatever reason excluded employees from purchasing certain models or types of vehicles.

Americans should be able to find insurance outside their employers’ options while also having their companies contribute. Let everyone use the employers’ contribution to choose their own private or government plans.

Of course, employers should contribute to the cost of healthcare, but either through taxes or paying higher wages. What kind of healthcare we receive should not be linked to employment.

Janet Gegan

Culver City

I am very surprised by The Times’ strong position against the Little Sisters of the Poor. The Times would be the first to protest if the government dictated, with the penalty of steep fines, what should and should not be printed in its paper — even if it benefits everyone.

The nuns’ refusal to sign a form attesting to their objection has nothing to do with the issue of contraception or healthcare. It has to do with a fundamental principle: Can the government coerce any person (a corporation has the same legal status as that of a person) to go against what he or she believes, directly or indirectly?

Ironically, it is the sisters who are fighting for separation of church and state.

The Rev. Vivian Ben Lima

Woodland Hills

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