ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Legislation requiring insurance companies to pay for birth control pills would cut health care costs by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the bill's supporters said Wednesday.
Del. Julia Connally's proposal will be considered by a special legislative commission today and by a House of Delegates committee Friday. The bill was carried over for study by the 1996 General Assembly.
``This bill targets a very pervasive, expensive problem - the high rate of unintended pregnancies,'' Connally, D-Arlington, said at a state Capitol news conference.
Former Pennsylvania congressman Peter Kostmayer, director of Washington-based Zero Population Growth, said Virginia had about 76,000 unplanned pregnancies and 26,000 abortions in 1994.
``The costs of failing to cover contraception and continuing to have such a high rate of unintended pregnancy hit us all,'' he said.
Connally said it makes no sense that insurers must cover pregnancy and childbirth expenses, which average about $8,600, but are not required to pay for birth control pills or shots that cost about $220 to $365 a year.
Laurie Janus of Richmond, a 27-year-old newlywed, said she was surprised to learn that her group health insurance policy would cover pregnancy costs but not birth control.
``Why does my insurer want to spend our premium dollars on abortion, unintended pregnancy and newborn care? That's what causes my employer's insurance premiums to rise,'' she said.
The General Assembly last winter passed a bill requiring heath maintenance organizations to allow women to see an obstetrician-gynecologist without a referral from a primary care physician. Requiring insurers to pay for the drug most often prescribed by the specialists is the logical next step, Connally said.
However, Brooke Taylor of Trigon Blue Cross Blue Shield, a spokeswoman for the state's largest health insurance company, said coverage decisions are best left to insurers and their clients.
``We believe our customers are the best judges of what coverage we should provide,'' she said in a telephone interview.
She said Trigon already covers birth control pills for individual policyholders and HMO members because of customer demand. Coverage is available on group policies for employers who want it.
Taylor disagreed with bill supporters' claim that a decrease in pregnancies would more than offset the cost of the pills. She said there is no way to know how many women who are not taking birth control pills would do so if insurance paid for them.
Stephen Colecchi, director of the Office of Justice and Peace at the Catholic Diocese of Richmond, said the bill also raises religious issues. ``The Catholic Church does not approve of artificial birth control the bill appears to raise a conflict for us.''
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB