In what has become par for the course for Delegate Bob
Marshall (R-Prince William County), the Virginia legislator has filed HB1314
and HB1315 for the upcoming session of the General Assembly, two bills which
seek to give employers in the commonwealth the option of covering birth control
pill, the morning-after pill, or sterilization methods.[1]
The goal of the two bills is to undermine a provision in the
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act that would require employers to provide
coverage for contraception.
At present, Virginia law requires insurers that provide
health plans with prescription drug benefits to include contraceptive coverage
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.[2]
Marshall has stated that he is opposed to the “compulsory
expense” that businesses are forced to undertake as a “burden to religion” and
a “man’s exercise of his conscience to pay for those things which he deems immoral.”
But out of all of Virginia’s pressing issues, it appears
that contraception coverage for women is what keeps Del. Bob Marshall awake
most at night. This is of course his prerogative as a Virginia legislator.
The fact is, however, that even if Marshall’s bills were
passed, it’s not certain how they would affect some businesses if enacted. In
Virginia, according to executive director for the Virginia Association of
Health Plans Doug Gray, large companies are included in the “self-insured”
category and are therefore not covered by Virginia laws regulating health
policies.[3]
Thus, even if Marshall’s legislative pursuit were a
worthwhile endeavor, which it isn’t, it’s not clear that it would bear much
fruit in the long run anyways. While Virginia faces a host of other pressing
issues, Marshall has confined his time, and that of the General Assembly, to
supposed problems which cannot be solved by the solutions that he has
provided.
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