HOUSE MEMORIAL 112

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Patricio Ruiloba and Carl Trujillo

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE TO UNDERTAKE AN ANALYSIS OF THE PROVISIONS OF CURRENT FEDERAL LAW RELATING TO MINIMUM CONTRACEPTION COVERAGE AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE REGARDING CHANGES NECESSARY TO ALIGN STATE LAW WITH CURRENT FEDERAL CONTRACEPTION COVERAGE REQUIREMENTS.

 

     WHEREAS, with the passage in 2010 of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare" or the "Affordable Care Act", and federal regulations issued pursuant to that act, women who have health coverage must be provided with access to each of the contraceptive methods approved by the United States food and drug administration; and

     WHEREAS, according to the Guttmacher institute, the proportion of women of reproductive age – generally, ages fifteen through forty-four — who were uninsured dropped by forty-one percent between 2013 and 2016, over the first three years of the Affordable Care Act's major expansions to medicaid and private insurance coverage; and

     WHEREAS, many members of the United States congress and the federal executive branch have declared an intention to overturn these and other provisions of the Affordable Care Act; and

     WHEREAS, states retain the ability to regulate most insurance coverage, and, in the event of a repeal of all or part of the Affordable Care Act, the New Mexico legislature can ensure that the New Mexico Insurance Code and state coverage programs for medicaid recipients and state employees and retirees provide the same contraception coverage protections that are currently codified in federal law;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the office of superintendent of insurance be requested to undertake an analysis of the provisions in current federal law relating to the minimum requirements for contraception coverage in the individual and group health insurance markets in order to make recommendations to the legislature for placing those contraception coverage provisions in state law relating to health coverage that is subject to state jurisdiction; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the superintendent of insurance be requested to report to the legislative health and human services committee by October 1, 2018, the recommendations of the office of superintendent of insurance regarding the changes necessary to align state law with federal contraception coverage requirements; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the superintendent of insurance and the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee.

- 3 -