Health insurance; contraception coverage. (HB1417)

Introduced By

Del. Bob Marshall (R-Manassas) with support from co-patron Sen. Dick Black (R-Leesburg)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Health insurance; contraception coverage. Provides that no health insurance plan, regardless of whether such plan consists of self-insurance, purchased insurance, a combination of purchased and self-insurance, or the use of a health maintenance organization, offered by the Commonwealth or any locality to its employees or by any agency, department, division, or institution of the Commonwealth or any locality authorized by law to offer such a plan to its employees is required to include coverage for contraception methods, sterilization procedures, or abortifacient drugs or devices. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
12/18/2012Committee
12/18/2012Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/09/13 13100574D
12/18/2012Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor
01/17/2013Impact statement from DPB (HB1417)
02/04/2013Motion to discharge Committee on Commerce and Labor rejected
02/05/2013Left in Commerce and Labor

Comments

Stephen writes:

This is an area that Bob marshall needs to keep his nose out of, let the Insurance company make it's own rules. keep your bible in church and out of my Government.

ACLU-VA Women's Rights and Reproductive Freedom, tracking this bill in Photosynthesis, notes:

The ACLU of Virginia strongly opposes this bill. This bill attempts to allow a license to discriminate against women and limit women’s access to basic health services. Virtually every woman, ages 15-44, who is sexually active has used birth control at some point in her life. That includes 98 percent of Catholic women. In fact, contraception is the norm for religious women. This legislation is not about religious liberty at all, but about whether individuals should have access to comprehensive health insurance coverage, and most pointedly, whether women should have insurance coverage for contraception. Your boss’s morals should not be the arbiter of your health care access, just like employers should not be able to eschew minimum wage laws or other labor and employment protections out of moral opposition. Religious liberty means the right to hold to your beliefs, but not to impose them on others.