Colorado’s lawmakers have been amending House Bill 1021 which would effect how women without employer sponsored group health insurance coverage might gain access to maternity coverage. If passed, the new law would require that all new individual health insurance policies include coverage for contraception and maternity care in the same manner as any sickness or injury.
However, under the current iteration, insurance companies would be allowed to exclude a current pregnancyas a pre-existing condition under individual health insurance policies. This would help help control insurance policy costs by keeping people from waiting until they become pregnant to purchase insurance. Employer sponsored group health insurance plans would continue to notexclude current pregnancies as a pre-existing condition.
If House Bill 1021 becomes law, it would take effect on January 1st, 2011 or possibly later, depending on the circumstances of how it would become law. The law would effect policies “issued or renewed on or after” the law’s effective date. The new law would not apply to supplemental or limited benefit insurance plans.
In recent years, Kaiser, Humana, Golden Rule and Assurant have all stopped offering maternity benefits on their individual health insurance plans in Colorado. This leaves women in Colorado with few options to cover a normal pregnancy.
However, Colorado already mandates that individual insurance plans offer limited insurance coverage for complications as related to pregnancy. In November of 2000 Colorado’s Commissioner of Insurance amended the definition of “Complications of Pregnancy to make it easier for consumers to see under what circumstances a pregnancy may or may not be covered by an individual insurance plan.
Colorado residents, please request an Free Personalized Quote for a professional consultation and evaluation of your maternity options.
