Women's Health

A bill's last chance

by Jessica Rosin

The last few days of the Massachusetts legislative session are always crowded, and sometimes the most important votes get squeezed aside.

At press time, still due for a vote in the House of Representatives was a bill that would require health-insurance companies to include contraceptives (as well as hormone-replacement therapy) in their coverage of prescription drugs. If the measure passes, insured women would no longer have to pay out-of-pocket for contraceptives, as many health plans currently require. Birth control would be as accessible as antibiotics.

"It would recognize that contraceptives are a basic part of health coverage for any woman of childbearing age," says Ann Lambert, legislative counsel for the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union.

The measure sailed though the Senate in March with a unanimous vote, and advocates say it has a decent chance of being passed in the House. But if the bill is not brought to a vote in the House by July 31, when the legislature lets out for summer, supporters of the bill will have to start from square one next session.

In fact, that's just what happened in 1996: the legislature let out before the bill could be passed.

"We are prepared to start over, but it would be a shame," Lambert says.

To speed up the process, supporters of the bill can call the office of Speaker of the House Thomas Finneran, at (617) 722-2500, to ask that it be brought to a vote.