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Support Amendments Prohibiting Health Insurance Discrimination
Prescription contraception is basic health care and the failure to cover contraceptives is sex discrimination plain and simple. Demand that the Utah Legislature take action to require health insurance companies to cover contraceptives the same way they cover all other prescription drugs.
IT'S FAIR. IT'S COST EFFECTIVE. IT'S RESPONSIBLE. AND IT IS TIME!
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Support SB 111 - Amendments Prohibiting Health Insurance Discrimination
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I am writing to urge you to vote to stop health care gender discrimination and to reduce emplyers liability risk. Please consider these facts:
-FDA approved contraceptives are the only class of prescription drugs routinely excluded from insurance coverage.
-This is not an issue normally considered by most small businesses. By supporting working through insurance, you can help businesses avoid unknowingly walking into a lawsuit. Twenty-two states, the courts and the Federal EEOC have ruled that an employer's failure to cover contraceptives in employee health plans constitutes unlawful sex discrimination.
-This denial of coverage disproportionately impacts the 541,236 Utah women of reproductive age who spend 90% of their reproductive years postponing or avoiding a pregnancy.
-Planned pregnancies have healthier outcomes: Women who plan and space their pregnancies have fewer low birth weight babies, miscarriages and maternal deaths.
It is about time that Amendments Prohbiting Health Insurance Discrimination becomes the law in Utah. Thank you for your support of this legislation.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
September 23, 2004
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The passage of SB 111 - Amendments Prohibiting Health Insurance Discrimination will ensure that women are no longer discriminated against by being denied contraceptive coverage on the whim of an employer or insurance company.
Cynthia Jones, Salt Lake City Obstetrician
It is time to take action on one of the serious gaps that exists in health care: most health insurance plans do not cover or inadequately cover contraceptives. Women rely on their employer-based health insurance to pay for their health care needs - and contraceptives are routinely left out of these packages. Birth control however, is the single highest out-of-pocket medical expense for women of child-bearing age.
Cost analyses have shown that if health insurance policies included contraceptive coverage, the cost to employers would be as little as $1.43 per enrollee per month. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported that when the federal government added contraceptive benefits for it's employees, there was no increased cost.
There is simply no excuse. The economic and social cost of unintended pregnancy far exceeds the minimal expense of DOING THE RIGHT THING!
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plannedparenthood.org
