Utah lawmakers move ahead with expanding birth control coverage for low-income women

A bill to extend family-planning services and birth control to about 11,000 low-income Utah women is gaining traction in the state Legislature.

Costs of the partial Medicaid expansion effort would be covered mostly by the federal government, under House Bill 12. And several Republican legislators on Wednesday said the measure would save taxpayers money longterm by preventing unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

HB12 cleared a House committee Wednesday, with just one member opposed: Rep. Norm Thurston, R-Provo. It now heads to the full House.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Ray Ward, a Republican and family physician from Bountiful, is pitched as a strategy for thousands of women to gain control over when they have children, through access to costly long-acting birth control such as intrauterine devices, or IUDs. Women who pay out-of-pocket for such devices can spend as much as $1,200, putting the devices well out of reach for many impoverished Utahns.

With improved access to family planning services, the thinking goes, women can choose to pursue school or work before starting families, which could help bring them out of poverty. Utah is one of seven states that have not expanded Medicaid to cover family planning.

“This service, I do believe — having seen it myself, and having seen the numbers — makes an economic improvement in the lives of women,” Ward said.

Thurston said he opposed the bill — at least for now — because of its appearance of expanding government, providing guaranteed services to a new population. He also said he’s “not convinced” that there aren’t already sufficient existing family planning resources for women in need.

“I don’t intend to appear heartless,” Thurston said, “I just do sometimes.”

But Rep. Ed Redd, R-Logan, said the measure would ideally translate to fewer unintended pregnancies, reducing financial stress for parents — and the numbers of children raised in less-than-ideal circumstances. That, in turn, could mean those parents would seek fewer social services “in the long run,” costing taxpayers less money, noted Rep. Steve Eliason, R-Sandy.

The coverage expansion — which would require a Medicaid waiver from federal officials — would cover women who earn up to 95 percent of incomes at the poverty line, or about $11,500 in 2017 for a single woman.

Another bill provision would also allow medical providers to be reimbursed separately by Medicaid for implanting IUDs or other long-acting birth control devices shortly after a woman gives birth, while she is already in the hospital.

Ward noted 90 percent of the costs of the expansion — estimated at about $800,000 annually, after initial startup costs — would be covered by the feds, and future federal assistance would not be tied to the fate of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

HB12 initially called for a four-year pilot plan, but committee members on Wednesday amended the measure to put it in place longterm. By 2020, the federal government would be paying Utah more than $4.3 million for the expanded coverage, a fiscal analysis said.

Other states, Ward said, have seen big payoffs from similar family-planning expansion. Colorado, for example, saved nearly $70 million in state and federal money after a similar effort provided 36,000 low-income women with long-acting birth control, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

from The Salt Lake Tribune http://ift.tt/2DLrzca