Hobby Lobby prez: Standing firm against ObamaCare mandate

The president of Hobby Lobby says he has received a lot of support when it comes to his family’s legal battle with the federal government. At issue is the government’s requirement in the new healthcare law for employers to cover contraceptives for employees.

Speaking Thursday on American Family Radio, Steve Green explained that the mandate violates his family’s religious freedoms.
Green

“Their argument is that it is best for women, in a very general sense, to provide all 20 contraceptives that are mandated – and of course, we’re talking about four of the 20,” he shares. “We offer the 16 – so it’s not the contraceptive piece, it is the abortive piece that is problematic for us.”

Green said following a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, it was clear what path he and his family had to take.

“The Supreme Court made the ruling that it [the mandate] was a tax,” he recalled. “It was after that point that our legal counsel came and let us know what the ramifications of that were for our family with the 20 contraceptions that are mandated, four of those being abortive in nature, which he knew was something that would violate our own conscience. So that’s when we realized that we had no other option but to file suit.”

In the aftermath of the high court’s ruling and the Hobby Lobby lawsuit, Green has witnessed an outpouring of support for his family’s cause.

“Everywhere I go, if I’m out speaking somewhere or at an event of some sort, there has been a lot of support,” he told AFR. “A lot of people are in this same position in the business community and they’re kind of watching our case because they just don’t feel like they can take this battle on themselves and are supporting us. We’ve had a lot of people saying they’re praying for us.”

The lawsuit has been sent back and forth in federal court, but Hobby Lobby was just recently given a temporary injunction from the requirement. The federal government, meanwhile, has until October 1 to consider filing an appeal with the Supreme Court. In the meantime, Hobby Lobby is not subject to fines, as called for by the federal government for employers who do not comply.

In Hobby Lobby’s case, those fines – if applied to every employee – could amount to more than a million dollars a day.

“There is a calculation that is $100 per day per affected employee,” he explained. “If we were to take all of the employees and lives that are on our health plan – some employees don’t take our health plan, some of them do, and they’ve got dependents who are covered as well – there are about 13,000 [employees]. When you take the $100 per day, if you applied it to all 13,000, you’re at $1.3 million a day.”