All Or None: Pregnancy Must Be Covered
Posted by Advocate Aaron · Leave a Comment
Colorado is considering several proposals that might provide health insurance to hundreds of thousands uninsured individuals across the state (http://denver.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2009/01/05/story7.html?b). Concepts include adding a surcharge to medical bills that would go toward providing health care to the uninsured, and creating a low-cost, guarantee-issue government-subsidized health coverage plan. Yet another proposal would require all insurers operating in Colorado to provide maternity care coverage. All concepts have stirred debate.
The Denver Business Journal quotes Rebecca Weiss, government affairs director for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Colorado, as saying that maternity insurance is a wonderful option, but warning that including it on every policy could drive up costs and put insurance out of economic reach for many.
Of all the conditions covered by medical insurance, pregnancy should be the last one to choose from. Care for cancer treatment can quickly rise to six or even seven figures, while the average pregnancy costs under $10,000. Are we being told that it’s okay to expect coverage for cancer treatments, but not pregnancy?
Pregnancy is the number one reason for hospitalization in the United States, which is probably why insurance companies do not want to cover it. Holier-than-thou attitudes predictably argue that, because one can control whether or not to become pregnant, no one can choose to not get cancer. But this premise slaps the face of humanity itself: are we encouraged to purchase (or have our health insurance cover) contraceptives and physically change how our body behaves in order to avoid insurance costs? Or should we remain abstinent, refusing to fulfill urges that many psychologists agree are key to human happiness?
As some would have it, the answer is yes, we should either change how our bodies naturally behave, undergo invasive procedures or simply refrain from sex and become unhappy in order to stave off the ‘condition’ of pregnancy. Have these holier-than-thou personalities forgotten how they got here?
Legislators must not ignore nature’s course when determining the future of health care and the policies that form the framework of fair and equal health care coverage. If pregnancy is allowed to be considered a condition by health insurance companies, then it must be provided for under health insurance coverage.
