Insurance providers will be required to offer contraceptive coverage in all policies and maternity care in a majority of policies under a bill that received final approval from the Colorado Senate Friday.
House Bill 1021, sponsored by Reps. Jerry Frangas, D-Denver, and Beth McCann, D-Denver, now heads back to the House for concurrence on Senate amendments and then is expected to go to Gov. Bill Ritter. Ritter, a Democrat, has not stated a position on the measure yet.
Current law requires that all group sickness and accident policies cover maternity care, but it does not address contraceptive care and does not mandate such coverage in the individual-policy market.
Sponsoring Sen. Joyce Foster, D-Denver, said that she brought the measure to cut down on unwanted pregnancies and to help the 130,000 women in the individual-insurance market who can’t get maternity coverage because it’s considered a pre-existing condition.
Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, noted, however, the mandate is expected to drive up rates of all individual insurance policies between 1 and 7 percent. At a time when the main complaint about health care is the cost of insurance, this is not a smart move, he said.
“Every time you require something additional for medical insurance, you drive people out of the medical insurance market,” Lundberg said.
Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Castle Rock, proposed an amendment to let insurers offer contraceptive care in most but not all policies, arguing employers like Catholic Charities and religious hospitals could be forced to pay for workers’ contraception despite opposing the practice.
The amendment lost when only two Democrats — Paula Sandoval of Denver and Lois Tochtrop of Thornton — joined with Republicans in supporting it. Sen. Michael Johnston, D-Denver, said that no one would be forced to use contraception under the policy, while Foster argued that women already have to pay for prostate coverage that is mandated in all policies now.
“This is about choice for individuals of faith. This is not a choice for institutions of faith,” Johnston said.
The bill passed on a party-line vote, with 20 Democrats supporting it and all 14 Republicans opposing it. Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, was not present for the vote.
HB 1021 is one of 30 measures filed this year involving increased regulation of the insurance industry. Others include proposals to mandate all insurance policies be written to be understood by 10th graders, ban insurers from benefitting financially from unfair claim denials, and make companies that insure chemotherapy treatment cover orally administered anticancer medication as well
Source by Rick Lewis
