Collins May Back Blunt Bill

Yesterday, Sen. Collins refused to rule out supporting an amendment sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that would allow bosses to inject themselves into the full range of worker health care choices.

For example, the amendment would allow employers to exclude maternity care for unmarried women if they believe premarital sex is immoral.

And given the sweeping nature of the amendment's "moral convictions" standard, it's hard to see what would prevent your boss from waking up one morning and deciding to drop coverage for end-of-life care, or vaccinations or anything else he'd developed a moral aversion to.

Indeed, it seems likely that companies would be able to whittle coverage down to a few basic services simply on the grounds that someone in charge finds the expense of a more comprehensive plan morally offensive.

One might think that a (nominally) pro-choice, pro-family planning senator would look at this sort of proposal and dismiss it out of hand.

But one would be wrong.