After three years of amendments and revision, the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved Wednesday the Contraception Coverage Bill, which would require all health care plans providing prescription coverage to pay for contraceptives.
The House sent the bill to acting Gov. Jane Swift, who said she would sign when presented with the bill.
The final vote was 139-16, despite a battle over an additional amendment to broaden exemption for religious groups and those expressing moral opposition. Required coverage includes all FDA-approved birth control pills, norplant, cervical caps, IUDs, diaphragms and the controversial emergency contraceptive, or morning-after pill. RU-486, the recently approved abortion pill, will not be covered.
Democrats and Republicans alike supported the initiative. Boston representative to the House Kevin Honan (D-Suffolk) voted in favor of the bill.
“It was the overwhelming will of the House that this coverage be extended to women,” Honan said. “It is very important for women to have this healthy insurance coverage, and I feel that it is very important to be fair.”
The bill includes a clause that would allow institutions directly controlled by the Catholic Church to decline contraceptive coverage due to moral objections. Other Catholic institutions and hospitals will have to provide the coverage.
Eugene O’Flaherty (D-Suffolk) said there is an unfair burden being placed on ecclesiastical institutions. He said even those who find it to be morally objectionable would have to provide contraceptives or suspend health care.
After the failure of the amendment to provide for further exemptions, O’Flaherty decided to vote in favor of the bill.
“Catholic institutions and hospitals may want to bring litigation and see whether or not this is constitutional in the state and federally,” O’Flaherty said. “I think there will be more than a protest. I think there will be litigation.”
Currently, seven percent of HMOs in the state do not provide contraceptive coverage. Fifty percent of large group insurance plans do not include contraceptives.
The Senate approved the bill for the third time in the fall, this time unanimously. Sen. Steven Tolman (Middlesex, Suffolk) co-sponsored the bill.
Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts supported the bill for several years. PPLM spokeswoman Michelle Ringuette said birth control pills, costing about $35 per pack per month, can cost a woman between $7,000 and $10,000 over the course of her reproductive life.
“For women in the low-income bracket, this is prohibitive,” Ringuette said. “Many just choose to go without.”
She explained the failed amendment allowed for too large a loophole that would give far too many institutions a right to ignore the bill for moral claims.
“It has to do with employers sitting on their own with insurance providers and picking out the menu of what will be covered,” Ringuette said. “They aren’t the bad guys, it’s just that contraceptives are taken right off the table. It gets forgotten.
“Now we are making sure it doesn’t get forgotten,” she said.
The bill stands to become law if Swift signs it. It is unknown when it will be implemented.
“This is common sense legislation. Contraceptives are basic health care,” Ringuette said. “This has been a form of gender discrimination against women.”
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