[Dr. Sivana]

I have thought from the start that to offer one's employeee an evil as a "benefit" must involve formal cooperation. Under duress from the HHS, yes, but formal.

On that basis, how is that different than the employer handing his employee a W-2 to pay his taxes to a state or fed government that is also funding said evil? And yet Our Lord was ok with paying the Roman taxes (nice pagans as pagans go, but certainly idolatry and other evils are funded by it).

In the case of the self-insurer, the employer winds up cutting the check directly for the evil act, as opposed to paying an agency that will pay off a large range of acts, most morally good, some evil.

Regarding the "I didn't know" aspect, a person in authority (e.g. employer) has a moral obligation to learn that which is pertinent to his role. So, while he might not be guilty of the thing itself, he may be guilty of a wilfull ignorance of a knowable truth that might lead to a similar penalty.

[Mrs. Don-o]

That's just the problem: I am finding it very hard to distinguish between formal and material cooperation in these cases.

Very tentatively: paying taxes, properly so called, must be different from other forms of cooperation because, as you say, Our Lord did it. Taxes go into a general government treasury. Once the funds are there, you have done your duty (rendering unto Caesar that which is Caesar's). Then it is Caesar who does evil if, in a completely separate act, Caesar decides to purchase incense for Jupier, augment the crucifixion program, or invade Gaul. But that would be Caesar's sin, not yours.

On the other hand, if Caesar were demanding funds that did NOT go into the general government treasury, but which specificlaly went into the "Incense-for-Jupiter" or "Crosses-for-Jews" fund, then you would be morally obliged to disobey, because its use would be already explicitly specified.

By analogy, you could pay Income Taxes, which go into the U.S. Treasury general fund. But it would be morally wrong to pay funds into a payment scheme designed as an "employee benefit" (insurance plan) when YOU KNOW the "benefit" consists of injecting toxins into employees or providing for their reproductive maiming.