Katie Redding, a reporter at the Colorado Independent, recently wrote about a new state bill that would require Colorado insurance companies to cover maternity care, as well as birth control. She offers more details about the proposed measure.
Tell us about the proposed state bill that would require Colorado insurance companies to cover maternity care as well as birth control.
In its current state, the bill would require Colorado health insurance companies issuing plans on the individual market to cover maternity in the same manner that they currently cover sickness or accidents. The bill would also require both individual and group policies to cover pregnancy management, including contraceptive counseling, drugs and devices. But the bill explicitly excludes abortion procedures and services from the definition of pregnancy management. If the bill passes, the mandates would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011.
You reported that Colorado has no law that mandates insurance companies to cover birth control. Do most other states?
Federal law mandates any employer with more than 15 employees to offer birth control in its employee plans.
Currently, 25 states mandate insurance companies to cover birth control in small employee plans and in the individual market, according to what Gretchen Borchelt, senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center, told me.
Is maternity coverage mandated in most other states?
Again, federal law mandates that any employer with more than 15 employees cover maternity in its employee plans.
A 2008 National Women's Law Center study found that 21 states have an additional benefit mandate that relates to maternity care, but most don't actually ensure access to maternity care across all insurance markets.
For example, in New York, only HMOs and nonprofit insurance companies are required to cover maternity, leaving what Brigette Courtot, senior policy analyst with the National Women's Law Center, called 'a very small proportion' of plans without maternity. On the other hand, Maine and New Hampshire have mandates that require insurance companies to offer one or more plans that cover maternity. But such plans, according to the 2008 report, can come at a 'high and unaffordable cost.'
According to Courtot, only five states mandate insurance companies to cover maternity across all markets.
Where is this bill in the process?
The bill passed out of the Health Care Task Force Interim Committee this fall, and has also passed through the Legislative Counsel, its sponsor K. Jerry Frangas, D-Denver, told me. He expected it to be assigned to committee – likely the Health and Human Services Committee – and heard there by January.
Who is in line with it and who is opposed, and why?
Since the legislative session hasn't started yet, the bill is really just beginning to garner supporters and detractors. The board of the Colorado Women's Chamber of Commerce, for example, recently voted to support the bill (although it should be noted that the vote was taken before the birth control mandate was added to the bill).
On the other hand, the Colorado State Association of Health Underwriters told me that it will oppose the bill. The group has been careful to point out that it doesn't oppose the idea of providing birth control and prenatal care. 'CSAHU's point is that when you mandate coverage of something that is not being covered previously, it increases the cost of insurance for everybody,' Cindy Sovine-Miller, a lobbyist for CSAHU, told me.
The debate, right now, is largely fiscal versus moral. Proponents argue that women who can manage their pregnancies and access good prenatal care have healthier babies. Detractors argue that mandates, however important, raise premiums.
There could be an interesting twist if the maternity portion of the bill looks like it will save the state money. Chaer Robert, of the Colorado Women's Lobby, told me that over one-third of the babies born in Colorado are born on public assistance. She speculated that women who might otherwise buy health insurance may be turning to the state as their only option.
Katie Redding is a writing fellow with the Colorado Independent, part of the Center for Independent Media. She focuses on health care, education, the environment and rural issues.
Check out
rmpbs.org/health for real-life health care stories, blogs and resources.
These fields are for commenting in our public forum. If you wish to share this page with a friend, please click on the "Tell a Friend" icon above.
