House Health Reform Bill Includes Several Provisions To Benefit Women

October 30, 2009 — The House health care reform bill (HR 3962) released on Thursday includes several provisions aimed at improving health care for women, CQ HealthBeat reports. According to CQ HealthBeat, women -- along with young adults and seniors -- are among the voting blocs Democrats have taken "special care to target" in their push for health reform.

The House bill would prohibit insurance companies from using gender to set the price of policies, a practice that often leads to women being charged more than men for the same coverage in the individual market. The practice also inflates group insurance costs for businesses with many female employees.

The bill would require coverage of maternity services as part of an essential benefits package for plans in the health insurance exchanges that would be created under the legislation. Eventually, plans outside the exchanges also would be required to include maternity coverage. Out-of-pocket payments would be limited for certain preventive care services, according to CQ HealthBeat.

In addition, the bill would ban insurance companies from denying coverage in the individual market based on a woman's history as a victim of domestic violence. According to CQ HealthBeat, this provision "would take effect as soon as the bill is signed into law, enacted as of Jan. 1, 2010." The bill also would prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions based on health status, medical condition, claims experience, receipt of health care, medical history, genetic information, disability, evidence of insurability or source of injury. The bill also stipulates that temporary Medicaid coverage would be provided to infants born without proof of other coverage for up to 60 days, starting in 2013 (Norman, CQ HealthBeat, 10/29).