Here is a White House fact sheet on the policy change:

FACT SHEET: Women’s Preventive Services and Religious Institutions

Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, most health insurance plans will cover women’s preventive services, including contraception, without charging a co-pay or deductible beginning in August, 2012. This new law will save money for millions of Americans and ensure Americans nationwide get the high-quality care they need to stay healthy.

Today, President Obama will announce that his Administration will implement a policy that accommodates religious liberty while protecting the health of women. Today, nearly 99 percent of all women have used contraception at some point in their lives, but more than half of all women between the ages of 18-34 struggle to afford it.

Under the new policy to be announced today, women will have free preventive care that includes contraceptive services no matter where she works. The policy also ensures that if a woman works for religious employers with objections to providing contraceptive services as part of its health plan, the religious employer will not be required to provide contraception coverage, but her insurance company will be required to offer contraceptive care free of charge.

The new policy ensures women can get contraception without paying a co-pay and addresses important concerns raised by religious groups by ensuring that objecting religious employers will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer women to organizations that provide contraception. Background on this policy is included below:

· Section 2713 of the Affordable Care Act, the Administration adopted new guidelines that will require most private health plans to cover preventive services for women without charging a co-pay starting on August 1, 2012. These preventive services include well women visits, domestic violence screening, and contraception, and all were recommended to the Secretary of Health and Human Services by the independent Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science.

· Today, the Obama Administration will publish final rules in the Federal Register that:

o Exempts churches, other houses of worship, and similar organizations from covering contraception on the basis of their religious objections.

o Establishes a one year transition period for religious organizations while this policy is being implemented.

· The President will also announce that his Administration will propose and finalize a new regulation during this transition year to address the religious objections of the non-exempted religious organizations. The new regulation will require insurance companies to cover contraception if the non-exempted religious organization chooses not to. Under the policy:

o Religious organizations will not have to provide contraceptive coverage or refer their employees to organizations that provide contraception.

o Religious organizations will not be required to subsidize the cost of contraception.

o Contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, with no role for religious employers who oppose contraception.

o Insurance companies will be required to provide contraception coverage to these women free of charge.

Covering contraception saves money for insurance companies by keeping women healthy and preventing spending on other health services. For example, there was no increase in premiums when contraception was added to the Federal Employees Health Benefit System and required of non-religious employers in Hawaii. One study found that covering contraception lowered premiums by 10 percent or more.

More later when the official announcement is made, but here is the application Oklahoma submitted for the waiver.

It will be at the Magnuson Hotel and Meridian Convention Center, 737 S. Meridian Ave. It’s just south of Interstate 40.

The venue was changed because of the overwhelming response, according to the Oklahoma Republican Party’s website. It originally was scheduled at the nearby H&H Shooting Sports Complex.

The time remains the same at 9 a.m. There is no charge to attend the rally.

Santorum’s visit today comes two days after he swept victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. The sweep of the three contests again puts the former senator from Pennsylvania in position to contend for the Republican nomination, analysts say.

His Oklahoma visit today is arranged by the Oklahoma Republican Party, which is not endorsing any contender. It has invited all GOP residential candidates to the state.

After his Oklahoma City visit, Santorum will go to Tulsa. He is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. at the Mabee Center at Oral Roberts University.

-          Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

“Our agenda is pro-growth with a renewed dedication to government that is smaller, simpler and smarter while still protecting services that are vital to our citizens,” President Pro Tem Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said.

And while the agenda released Tuesday endorsed many of the same ideas Fallin expressed in her 40 minute speech to lawmakers Monday, it was cautious about signing off on the governor’s plan to reduce the state’s income tax.

“Senate Republicans will take a thoughtful approach as we seek an aggressive yet responsible reduction of state income tax,” said Sen. Rick Brinkley, R-Owasso. “Many plans have been put forward to lower the income tax but we all agree on several things: core government services must be preserved and the promises we’ve made to Oklahomans must be kept.”

Brinkley said Senate Republicans are going to identify and eliminate ineffective credits, taxes credits and fees.

“It is simply wrong when any special interest receives an ineffective or obsolete tax credit at the expense of Oklahoma tax payers,” Brinkley said.

He said that task force he was on was looking more for a revenue neutral tax cut. The governor’s proposal would cost about $1 billion in revenue.

“There is no question that we ware excited to work with the governor’s office,” Brinkley said. “We’ve got time to work out a solution that will work.”

Wednesday, February 22:

_ Anadarko Town Hall Meeting

9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

City Hall, Council Chambers

501 West Virginia

_ Mountain View Town Hall Meeting

11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Mountain View – Gotebo High School, Auditorium

150 South First Street

_ Hobart Town Hall Meeting

1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Hobart City Hall, Council Chambers

111 East 3rd Street

_ Hollis Town Hall Meeting

4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Hollis Civic Center

208 West Jones

Thursday, February 23:

_ Altus Town Hall Meeting

10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Western Oklahoma State College, Band Room H12

2801 North Main Street

_ Mangum Town Hall Meeting

12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Mangum Welcome Center, Meeting Room

119 East Jefferson

_ Cordell Town Hall Meeting

2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Washita County Activity Center

1005 East 3rd

“I met with presidents of several of Oklahoma’s Christian-affiliated universities this week, and they expressed grave concern about their freedom to practice their faith and values without interference from the federal government,” Lankford said in a statement.
“I share this concern for them and religious organizations across our nation – church, para-church and educational institutions alike.
“The Bill of Rights explicitly protects the freedom of religion, with no caveats, exceptions or excuses,” continued Congressman Lankford. “Forcing private, religious institutions to offer healthcare coverage that explicitly defies their beliefs violates the spirit of the First Amendment to protect the religious freedoms of all Americans.
“President Obama and his overzealous Secretary of Health and Human Services have decreed that religious institutions must change their faith to fit the preferences of the Administration; this is the definition of government restricting free exercise of religion. This administration is systematically ripping the freedoms from faith-focused Americans.
“This must not stand.”
Responding to questions about the issue on Monday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said:
“I think that we have worked to find the appropriate balance between religious beliefs and the need to provide preventive services to American women, and to ensure that American women have access to those services regardless of where they work. And we have carved out an exemption for churches and other houses of worship, and we will work, going forward, with institutions where the employer is affiliated with a church, for example, but where many, many of the employees are of all faiths, to find a way to ensure that the policy is implemented and that all women have access to these services that also deals with the concerns that have been expressed.”
Carney said, “I think that we decided, the administration decided, the President agrees with this decision, that we need to provide these services that have enormous health benefits for American women, and that the exemption that we carved out is appropriate. And we will continue to have discussions about ways that the implementation can be done that might address some of these concerns. But the policy itself is clear.”