Once upon a time, President Obama assured everyone that if they liked their insurance plan they would be able to keep it. Once upon a time, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured everyone that if the Congress passed health care reform they would be able to see what was in it.

Well, the president and Pelosi were wrong. I have not been able to keep the insurance that I liked, and I know of many others who are in the same boat. Also, bits and pieces of the health care reform legislation are being determined on an as-you-go basis by the president and his czars.

Recently it was determined that as part of this “reform,” Catholic schools, Catholic charities and Catholic hospitals have to include birth control in their employees’ insurance package. Two major points come in to play with this. First, the Catholic Church did not just yesterday teach against birth control. Second, employees of these Catholic institutions, whether Catholic or not, know the doctrine and make the free-will choice to seek employment and accept the insurance package.

The issue here is not whether a woman can have access to birth control. What the issue amounts to is whether the government can dictate to a religious institution that it must go against its conscience and pay for insurance coverage for something that it teaches against.

Under big pressure and the fear of losing Catholic votes, the president said he has changed his mind — an accommodation, he calls it — and he’s dictated that insurance companies, not the Catholic Church, must offer birth control for free at religious institutions. Interestingly enough, Obama did not consult with the insurance industry on this, so it must have been a surprise to them.

What this all boils down to is that the president and the administration must stop dictating what religious organizations must do when what’s being prescribed goes against their longtime teachings. America was founded on the principle of religious freedom. Perhaps even football enthusiasts will soon have to stop calling a last-second pass a “hail Mary.”

Free is never free. Someone must pay for it either monetarily or in principle. When something is offered for free, taxpayers need to think long and hard about who will actually have to pay for it.

DIANNE M. LAYDEN

Belvidere