Reid pushes plan to pay for female contraceptives

WASHINGTON -- Bipartisan momentum is growing in Congress for legislation that would require most health insurance companies to begin paying for female contraceptives prescribed by a doctor.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told members of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee Tuesday that it is critical for Congress to require health insurance companies to pay for prescription contraceptives such as the birth-control pill used by women.

Reid and Snowe are the primary sponsors of a Senate bill that has 34 co-sponsors, including Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., that would mandate insurance companies -- that already cover prescription drugs -- to also pay for female prescription contraceptives.

During his testimony, Reid -- a pro-life Democrat -- read a handful of letters from women and doctors who support the Equity in Prescription and Contraceptive Coverage Act. He told his Senate colleagues that if the bill is passed it would greatly reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions each year.

"People think that these pregnancies are a bunch of promiscuous teenagers," he said. "Almost half of the unintended pregnancies in this country are with married couples. I think this will bring a lot of relief to married couples."

Reid said he will attempt to have the legislation passed this year by using two different avenues. The first is to have Congress pass the bill he authored with Snowe. But if that doesn't work, Reid said he will attempt to pass a scaled-down version of the bill that focuses only on federal government health plans.

Reid attempted to attach language onto the Senate Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill early last week that would require federal health plans to pay for employees contraceptives. But he was rebuked, and said he will continue to try and attach it to the bill when it is debated on the Senate floor, possibly later this week.

Last week, the House passed a version of the Treasury-Postal Appropriations bill that contained similar language mandating that federal health plans pay for contraceptives.

But not everyone is supporting Reid's bill.

Richard Coorsh, spokesman for the Health Insurance Association of America, said many insurance companies offer contraceptive insurance coverage as an option. But he said if they are forced to make it a standard component for all health plans, then the costs will be passed onto the consumer.

"The health insurance industry opposes mandates because collectively they increase the cost of coverage to the consumer," Coorsh said.

Bishop Daniel Walsh of the Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas, said that while he respects Reid as a lawmaker, he is opposed to the bill because it goes against Catholic Church doctrine.

"The teaching of the church is that the use of contraceptives is not acceptable," he said. "It is immoral and considered sinful."

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