A bill that would have required health insurance companies in Washington to cover abortion did not pass the Washington Senate. It did not get enough votes from Senators for the bill to be heard by the Senate. There is potential for the bill to be considered in a special session.
Right now, there are fifteen different states that have created laws that require health insurance companies to exclude coverage for abortion in a standard health insurance plan. Twelve other states are in the process of considering creating this type of law. Each state is allowed to make their own laws about this, and so, each state may be handling things in a slightly different way.
For example, the state of Kansas passed a law that bans insurance companies from including coverage for abortion in a standard health insurance plan. Women in Kansas who want their health insurance to include coverage for abortion must purchase a separate insurance rider for it. This law has been challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU, who filed a lawsuit about it. The lawsuit has not yet been heard, and the law is currently being enforced.
The state of Texas cut all Medicaid funding that had been going to Planned Parenthood because some lawmakers in Texas felt that Planned Parenthood doesn’t do anything other than provide abortions. Since Planned Parenthood is the largest provider of women’s health care in Texas, this could cause the state to lose all of their federal funding for Medicaid.
The state of Washington was going in the opposite direction. A bill was created that, if passed, would have required all insurance companies that covered maternity in a standard health insurance plan to also cover abortion. A previously passed law requires all health insurance plans to cover maternity. Therefore, this bill would have tacked on coverage for abortion to all health insurance plans.
The bill was called HB 2330. It had been passed by the Washington House of Representatives. It has now reached the Washington Senate. The bill failed to get enough votes to allow it to be heard by the Senate. In other words, the Washington Senate did not vote against HB 2330, they voted against the possibility of hearing about, and then officially voting on, HB 2330.
This means that the bill has not, at this time, been voted into law in the state of Washington. Some lawmakers feel that there is the possibility that the bill could be heard, (and perhaps voted on), in a special session.
Image by Cyndy Sims Parr on Flickr