Bills to expand birth control coverage to all health plans in Nevada spurs contentious testimony
A pair of bills that would expand birth control coverage to every health insurance plan in the state, regardless of religious objection, spurred hours of contentious testimony at committee hearings Monday.
The Assembly and Senate Health and Human Services Committees both heard proposals that would fortify legislation passed in 1999 that mandates most insurers cover contraceptive drugs and devices with no co-pay from the patient.
The new proposals — Assembly Bill 249 and Senate Bill 233 — would strip the law of its religious exemption. The current provision allows religious organizations and businesses to opt out of paying for birth control coverage for employees.
Both new proposals would provide contraceptive counseling and education, along with coverage for voluntary sterilization for both men and women.
Patients can now get 90-day birth control prescriptions filled. That cap would be lengthened to 12 months if either proposal passes.
SB233’s sponsor, state Sen. Julia Ratti, D-Sparks, said the 12-month cap would reduce unintended pregnancies.
The Senate bill would go beyond the coverage of its Assembly counterpart, sponsored by Assembly Majority Floor Leader Teresa Benitez-Thompson, D-Reno, to include preventative care such as mammograms, domestic violence counseling and certain vaccinations and disease screenings.
The bill’s coverage provisions would mirror those mandated federally by the Affordable Care Act, which President Donald Trump has promised to repeal and replace.
Ratti said her proposal is designed to give Nevadans, particularly women, a “full range of preventive health services” given the federal health care law’s uncertain future.
Neither bill contains language that would require insurers to cover abortions. However, the bills do include provisions for emergency contraception pills.
Proponents say they are doing right by Nevada’s women and ultimately lowering state costs by offering preventative care. Opponents say the bills would trample on religious liberties. People from both camps flocked to testify at both the Assembly and Senate committee meetings Monday.
During the Assembly meeting, Janine Hansen, state president of Nevada Families for Freedom, testified against the bill on religious liberty grounds.
“We are very concerned about the slippery slope we are now on in this state of the erosion of religious liberty,” she said.
Ratti said disrespecting religion was not her bill’s intention.
“I also don’t think it’s fair for an employer to be able to insist that their religion have an effect on an employee,” she said.
Contact Blake Apgar at bapgar@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5298. Follow @blakeapgar on Twitter.
