On September 10, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing on contraceptive equity legislation (S.104). Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-MA) expressed his support for the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act (EPICC), saying the “bill should have been passed years ago…because it is essential for women’s health.”
Sponsored by Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Harry Reid (D-NV), EPICC would require health plans to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptive drugs and devices. It also would require insurers to cover outpatient contraceptive services and would prohibit insurers from imposing co-payments and deductibles for prescription contraceptives that cost more than other prescription drugs.
Federal employees have had contraceptive coverage since 1998. Under current law, health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program are required to cover prescription contraceptives if they cover other prescription drugs. Physicians and others who provide contraceptives are exempted from the requirement if they object based on religious beliefs. Religiously affiliated health plans are also exempt.
Additionally, last year the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that an employer’s failure to include insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives in an employee health benefits plan, when it covers other prescription drugs and devices, constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) opened the hearing by commenting that women “already pay a gender tax” due to lower Social Security benefits, higher health costs, and unequal pay in the workforce. Sen. Mikulski also noted that the bill is important because family planning improves the health of women and children.
Sen. Snowe testified before the committee, saying that EPICC is a “common sense public policy whose time has long since come.” She also noted that the “lack of equitable coverage of prescription contraceptives has a very real impact on the lives of America’s women and, therefore, on our society as a whole.” Sen. Snowe pointed out that during the four years since the bill’s introduction, women, on average, have paid $350 per year for contraception or $1,500 throughout all four years. Agreeing with Sen. Snowe, Sen. Reid said that this issue “is about little more than discrimination against women” and that the health care industry “has done a poor job of responding to women’s health needs.”
Most witnesses testified in support of the legislation. Jennifer Erickson, who successfully sued her employer, the Bartell Drug Company, told the committee that contraceptive coverage would guarantee fairness in health insurance. Ms. Erickson then shared her experiences as a pharmacist who sees “on a daily basis that contraceptives are central to women’s health.” Although her employer now provides insurance with contraceptive coverage, Ms. Erickson said, “Every woman, no matter what state she lives in or where she works, should have fair access to the method of contraception she needs.” Marcia Greenberger of the National Women’s Law Center pointed out that some insurance plans do not cover oral contraceptives, even when they are prescribed for such medical conditions as dysmenorrhea, premenstrual syndrome, or to help prevent ovarian cancer. According to Ms. Greenberger, the failure of insurance to cover pregnancy prevention presents dangers to women’s health and the “exclusion of contraception from insurance coverage causes other harmful consequences for women’s health.” However, Kate Sullivan of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argued that contraceptive coverage, and any other health plan mandates, “directly raise the cost of health plans, limit employers’ ability to tailor benefits according to workforce need and demand, and stifle health plans’ efforts to provide consumers with a variety of choices and the ability to select the benefits most appropriate for their personal situations.” Furthermore, it “expands the likelihood of malpractice liability and requires that health plans favor contraceptive coverage over other benefits,” she added.
