Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Insurers Violate Health Law's Protections For Women, Studies Find
Health insurance companies often flout a federal requirement that they cover all approved methods of birth control for women without co-payments or other charges, a major benefit of the Affordable Care Act, two new studies have found. Responding to the reports, senior Democratic members of Congress prodded the White House on Wednesday to step up enforcement of the requirement. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Senate health committee, said she was 鈥渆xtremely disappointed鈥 by the findings, and she asked Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, to investigate the problems reported by many women. (Pear, 4/30)
The National Women鈥檚 Law Center, a feminist group that strongly backs the health law, said Wednesday it had found violations in health-plan documents in more than a dozen states where it investigated policies sold on the law鈥檚 insurance exchanges. The center, based in Washington, D.C., also said it had received complaints on a hotline from women from every state about problems accessing the benefits, including calls from women who got health coverage through their jobs. (Radnofsky, 4/29)
Some insurance plans offered on the health overhaul law's new marketplaces violate the law's requirements for women's health, according to a new report from a women's legal advocacy group. The National Women's Law Center analyzed plans in 15 states over two years and found some excluded dependents from maternity coverage, prohibited coverage of breast pumps or failed to cover all federally approved birth control methods. (Johnson, 4/29)
Women鈥檚 health advocates were thrilled when the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, because it required insurance companies to cover a broad array of women鈥檚 health services at no additional out-of-pocket cost beyond premiums. Five years later, however, that requirement is not being enforced, according to two new studies. Health insurance plans around the country are failing to provide many of those legally-mandated services including birth control and cancer screenings.(Rovner, 4/30)
