Codey gets coverage
bill on birth control
Employers would pay
cost of prescribed contraception
BY RICK HEPP,
Star-Ledger from the Web, December 14, 2005
Newark, NJ, Dec. 13 --
Employer health plans that offer drug coverage would have to pay for
doctor-prescribed contraception under a bill headed to acting Gov. Richard Codey
for his signature.
The controversial bill (A292) excludes churches or religious schools from having
to pay for contraception if it conflicts with the employer's "bona fide
religious beliefs and practices."
Those employers, however, cannot exclude coverage for contraceptives that are
necessary to "preserve the life or health" of the employee. And the
exemption does not extend to church-run hospitals or other organizations.
The Assembly passed the bill by a 57-14 margin yesterday, more than a year after
the Senate passed similar legislation by a 27-11 vote. It now goes to Codey, who
as Senate president voted for the proposal.
Legislators estimate the bill will cost state government as much as $1.4 million
annually to cover its female employees' contraceptive prescriptions. Local
government agencies could be faced with costs as high as $4.8 million to cover
their employees' prescriptions.
Representatives from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU have praised the
contraception coverage bill, calling it "an issue of basic fairness and equity."
The National Organization for Women of New Jersey -- which held a demonstration
in front of the Statehouse in Trenton before yesterday's vote -- points out that
employer health plans typically cover drugs that help erectile dysfunction.
NOW-NJ president Suzannah Porter said the group fought to prevent amendments
that would have allowed large religiously affiliated employers, such as
hospitals, to deny the benefit to workers. She said many workers in such
institutions do not practice the same religion as the employer.
"We are done compromising," Porter told the demonstrators. "We are the
majority of the voters and we will have our day."
The New Jersey Catholic Conference, which represents the various dioceses in the
state, had fought to get other church ministries, such as Catholic Charities and
Catholic-run hospitals, excluded from the bill because it would force them to go
against the church's teachings.
Calling it "one of the most serious invasions of church autonomy imaginable,"
the conference threatened that the bill's passage could force those institutions
to cancel prescription drug coverage for their employees. New Jersey
Catholic Conference Executive Director William F. Bolan Jr. was unavailable last
night for comment on the legislation's passage.
New Jersey is not alone in trying to make employers pay for prescribed
contraception. Legislation is being considered in states all across the
country and in Congress, to specifically mandate contraceptive equity in health
insurance coverage. If the bill is signed by Codey, New Jersey would
become the 23rd state to enact such provisions, according to the National
Women's Law Center.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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