Question:
Answer:
Yes, enrolling in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), colloquially called Obamacare, is morally acceptable, particularly if you have no other means of health care.
Some might object that some money in the ACA will go to pay for sterilizations, abortifacient contraceptives, and other contraceptives. While that’s unfortunately true, the same can be said—and worse—of U.S. taxpayer revenues that help fund Planned Parenthood.
However, in both cases, there is no formal cooperation on the part of the individual taxpayer or the individual who purchases health care via the ACA. In the case of the taxpayer, he is striving to be a responsible and upstanding citizen and, regrettably, a small portion of his taxes are used by the government to fund immoral practices. Similarly, a person who purchases health care under the ACA does so to provide himself and possibly also loved ones with good health care, and yet a small portion of his premiums is used for immoral practices.
The same can be said regarding many employee health care plans. In each of these cases, the cooperation is remote, because faithful Catholics would not be directly providing money—such as a direct donation to Planned Parenthood—nor would they otherwise be sharing the goal of those who misuse their funds.
In contrast, the Church has vigorously opposed the related HHS Mandate because the Obama administration was attempting to force in various ways Catholic and other religious entities to directly/formally provide their employees’ health-insurance coverage that would cover the aforementioned immoral practices.
For more information on the Church’s perspective on formal and material cooperation, see these two articles by Catholic Answers Senior Apologist Jimmy Akin.