Are employment benefits a gift? or are they earned?

At the core of the debate about birth control
and whether or not a company
can dictate the medical care choices of their employee
on religious grounds

should be a discussion of the nature of employment benefits.

Are the medical benefits your company offers you

a gift from the employer?
or

are they a part of your compensation.

Did you earn them?

Most companies require employees to pay a portion of the premium.
as well as deductables and co-pays

it's a nominal percentage of the cost of healthcare for the employee
usually 30% or less of the total cost of care.

Mine comes to about $1100 a year for my part
so yes -- my company pays a huge amount of my premium

in addition to that

we are self insured -- which means that if I go to the doctor and services are covered
the company picks it up

but that doesn't answer the question
of

is it a gift
or is it compensation

If it is a gift
I can understand the company wishing to dictate the exact nature of the gift

but as compensation
how does the company dictate how I use it?

the company doesn't ask me for a list of my receipts
and the end of the month
to see how I spend my paycheck

it does not provide me with guidelines
it does not require me to give a percentage of it to charity
or save in my 401k
although it encourages me to do so

So why
do we think it's ok
to remove legitimate heathcare
from the table.

healthcare which is
by the way
universally considered preventative care?

If I earn my benefits
then they should be mine to do wish as I wish

and if I share in the cost of the benefit
then
I should be able to do as I wish with it as well.

companies
even religious ones
do not belong in medical choices

this is a benefit we've earned
once we've earned it
you don't have a say in it.