Colorado House Bill 1021: Mandatory maternity coverage

There are, in fact, no individual policies available in Colorado that provide any pre-natal or maternity coverage. The insurance companies refuse to cover it, because there is a built-in $10,000 (average) hospital fee, as well as pre-natal visits, for what insurance companies consider “elective medical procedures.” At the same time, almost all group insurance policies cover pre-natal and delivery, so we're already paying those additional premiums. It's in the independently insured — small business owners, entrepreneurs and those who are out of work, who suffer for the insurers' greed in this regard.

There are, in fact, no individual policies available in Colorado that provide any pre-natal or maternity coverage. The insurance companies refuse to cover it, because there is a built-in $10,000 (average) hospital fee, as well as pre-natal visits, for what insurance companies consider “elective medical procedures.” At the same time, almost all group insurance policies cover pre-natal and delivery, so we're already paying those additional premiums. It's in the independently insured — small business owners, entrepreneurs and those who are out of work, who suffer for the insurers' greed in this regard.

I agree with the previous comment! My current job does not offer health insurance and have been purchasing independently for years. My husband and I have wanted to have childeren, however there was NO individual policy in Colorado that covered pre-natal or maternity coverage. There was not even a rider option available. This bill has helped our family. We are thankful for this to have gone through.

My family will be uninsured starting in January, thanks to this and other mandates. Our premiums will go up by 14.5%, and that's not even at our renewal! Additionally, Aetna will be dropping coverage in Colorado starting in January! Those of us already insured can keep our policies at a substantially higher rate, or find “something else”. There is nothing affordable out there, and now thanks to mandates, my family of five will be among the uninsured. Thanks Democrats!

I don't need this on my insurance policy. I am 60 years old! I need no prenatal, perinatal, postnatal care, no contraceptive devices, drugs, and services, and no more politicians who don't think before passing legislation to tell me how to run my life.

Will the legislators who passed this idiocy pay for any resulting premium increases out of their pockets? Did they even stop for one second to think if such a requirement is age and/or gender appropriate?

I don't need this on my insurance policy. I am 60 years old! I need no prenatal, perinatal, postnatal care, no contraceptive devices, drugs, and services, and no more politicians who don't think before passing legislation to tell me how to run my life.

Will the legislators who passed this idiocy pay for any resulting premium increases out of their pockets? Did they even stop for one second to think if such a requirement is age and/or gender appropriate?

I don't know where the 1-3% estimate is coming from. We just received notice from our insurer that next month, our rates are going to increase by 81%. I thought it was a typo, but no. 81% price hike on health insurance for my family, and we are done having kids. There's no way we can afford this rate increase. Thanks a lot, Colorado Congress and Governor Ritter.

I'm sorry that your premiums have increased so much, Jaclyn.  Mandatory maternity coverage is only one source of the increase, however. Good luck finding a more affordable policy.

I’ve had an individual policy through Anthem BCBS of CO for three years.  After steep price hikes in 2009 and 2010 (without a single claim filed), this year, my premiums actually decreased a healthy 15% (and this was the first year I had filed a claim). This decrease comes after Obamacare and after the mandatory maternity coverage went into effect. 

As a 29-year-old married, successfully self-employed female, I am extremely grateful for the mandatory maternity coverage. Prior to this bill, I would have had to pay an extra $600+/month for a maternity rider to be added to my individual policy, and the rider had to be effect for 12 months before the coverage took effect. So basically, if I ever had decided that I wanted to start a family, I had a pricey one-year waiting period before I could start trying, and then I had to just hope that pregnancy happened fast (and that it happened at all).  Pregnancy seemed like a pretty dreadful prospect to me before this bill was passed (a $600 a month rider, on top of a $3000 deductible and no paid maternity leave–yikes!). I’m glad that things have become fairer for those of us in the minority who have to buy our own insurance. 

I’m surprised your premiums decreased.  I suppose you’re lucky.  Regarding how you benefit from the mandated maternity coverage, I expect that you’re among the few who benefit from it, at the expense of many others who pay higher premiums.  (Unless their premiums also decreased.) 

In his book, The Machinery of Freedom, economist David Friedman discusses how special interest politics works:

Special interest politics is a simple game. A hundred people sit in a circle, each with his pocket full of pennies. A politician walks around the outside of the circle, taking a penny from each person. No one minds; who cares about a penny? When he has gotten all the way around the circle, the politician throws fifty cents down in front of one person, who is overjoyed at the unexpected windfall. The process is repeated, ending with a different person. After a hundred rounds everyone is a hundred cents poorer, fifty cents richer, and happy.

Regarding the drop in premiums, I was surprised too! (A spontaneous decrease in premiums from an insurance company–unheard of!) I do strongly urge you to read this very well-reasoned article from Forbes though, which discusses how insurance companies have been able to profit from Obamacare: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2011/05/23/more-solid-proof-that-obamacare-is-working/ 

As for the accusation that I’m simply reveling in the additional benefits that I, personally, receive as a result of this bill: before this bill was passed, those with group insurance through their employers all had maternity coverage (women and men alike in group policies were already all chipping in to pay for the pregnancies and childbirths within the group), while those of us with individual, self-purchased health insurance policies had no maternity coverage or any reasonable option to purchase such coverage. This bill merely gives those of us who must buy our own insurance the same benefits as those with employer-provided health insurance. Furthermore, I will probably never benefit personally from maternity coverage because I plan to adopt children rather than give birth! It is nice to have the option though.