Employees at Notre Dame were notified by email they will have access to contraceptive coverage next year.

Employees had been told last week the university would terminate the separate medical plan that provided contraceptive coverage next year because of a decision by the Trump administration eliminating the Affordable Care Act mandate.

Meritain Health, the university's medical plan provider, told the university they would continue to provide contraceptives to plan members at no charge.

The university stated in its email, "The University of Notre Dame, as a Catholic institution, follows Catholic teaching about the use of contraceptives and engaged in the recent lawsuit to protect its freedom to act in accord with its principles.  Recognizing, however, the plurality of religious and other convictions among its employees, it will not interfere with the provision of contraceptives that will be administered and funded independently of the University."

Full text of the email:

From the Office of Human Resources

Dear Faculty and Staff,

This comes to provide an important update.

Your 2018 Open Enrollment decision guide included a notice titled: “The Availability of Separate Payments for Contraceptive Services.” This notice outlined a separate contraceptive plan available to University medical plan participants, funded by the federal government through the Affordable Care Act and managed by Notre Dame’s medical plan Third Party Administrator, Meritain Health, and prescription benefit manager, OptumRx. This plan was separate from the University medical plan and was not funded by the University.

As we noted in our message last week, the University recently settled its lawsuit challenging the Mandate, following a recent executive order that, among other things, removed the federal government’s requirement for the separate coverage. We indicated in last week’s message that the separate medical plan which provided contraceptives would terminate at the end of the current calendar year.

Meritain Health/OptumRx have advised that they will now continue to provide contraceptives to plan members at no charge. For more information about this plan, contact Meritain Health at 1-888-668-6855.

The University of Notre Dame, as a Catholic institution, follows Catholic teaching about the use of contraceptives and engaged in the recent lawsuit to protect its freedom to act in accord with its principles.  Recognizing, however, the plurality of religious and other convictions among its employees, it will not interfere with the provision of contraceptives that will be administered and funded independently of the University.
   
Within the next few weeks, you will receive a Confirmation Statement for your 2018 benefits. You will be able to make any changes to benefits, including your flexible spending accounts, through December 1.