The first deadlines have passed for bills moving through the legislature and bills must pass the full House or Senate by next Wednesday (2/14). We are following many bills related to health care. This week, we feature an assortment of bills that would build Affordable Care Act (ACA) and reproductive health protections into state law to preserve consumer protections that are, or could be, gutted by Congress and the Trump Administration, as well as bills attempting to stabilize the health insurance market. We are pleased to see legislators paying attention to these matters in the following bills that are moving forward:

• The Reproductive Parity Act sponsored by Senator Hobbs passed the Senate last week, ensures insurance companies provide birth control coverage without co-pays and requiring private insurance companies that provide coverage for maternity care to also cover abortion care. All Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved over-the-counter contraceptives are also required to be covered without a prescription. The bill is expected to pass the House – creating a big early legislative win for reproductive health. Unfortunately, the reproductive health bill we highlighted in our last newsletter, SB 6105, is not moving forward though efforts will continue next year.
• A bill sponsored by Senator Cleveland contemplated a state “individual mandate” for health insurance, to replace the repealed federal mandate. It establishes a task force to explore this and other options to incentivize maintaining coverage. The bill has passed the Senate.
• A bill requires health plans to cover all preventive services required to be covered under federal law as of December 2016, sponsored by Representative Robinson.
• The Employee Reproductive Choice Act (Sen. Ranker) requires employers who provide health insurance to include contraceptive coverage at no cost, even though federal rules (currently being challenged in court) now allow employers to opt out of this.
• Bills addressing the destabilized health insurance market through a reinsurance program that requires a federal waiver (Rep. Cody and Sen. Cleveland, by request of the Insurance Commissioner), or through a plan incentivizing insurers to provide coverage in counties that would otherwise have none or, where necessary, coverage through the state high-risk pool (WSHIP) accompanied by income-based premium rate reductions.
• An update to the Health Benefit Exchange statute, sponsored by Representative Cody, removes references to the ACA to ensure its continued operation independent of what happens to ACA provisions.

For detailed information about the bills we are following, see our first Legislative Update of the 2018 session.