Oklahoma House of Representatives
Media Division
February 1, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: State Rep. Rebecca Hamilton
Capitol:(405) 557-7397
Hamilton Files Bill to Provide Insurance to Newborns
Urges Pro-life Lawmakers to Support Measure
OKLAHOMA CITY– State Rep. Rebecca Hamilton has filed legislation to ensure Oklahoma families can once again obtain private insurance coverage for newborns, calling it one of the most important pro-life bills facing lawmakers this year.
The legislation would resolve problems created by recent Oklahoma Insurance Department rules that allow insurance companies to deny infant-only coverage for children younger than one year.
“Due to recent state-level regulations, if an unborn child is diagnosed with a terrible disability, the child’s family will be unable to obtain insurance coverage for the baby if they do not already have a family policy,” said Hamilton, D-Oklahoma City. “That leaves the family facing potential bankruptcy and pressures them to choose abortion. As a pro-life lawmaker, I believe state policy should encourage life, not incentivize its destruction.”
Under House Bill 2911, by Hamilton, any insurance provider “advertising, offering or selling a health insurance policy that covers only a child or children in the state shall offer the policy for any child under the age of 18 years. If the insurance provider does not offer or sell health insurance policies for children under the age of one year, the insurance provider shall not be allowed to advertise, offer or sell any insurance policies for children in the state.”
Other states, including Colorado and Arkansas, have passed similar legislation. In Colorado, where Republicans control the state House and Democrats control the state Senate, the bill passed easily with broad bipartisan support.
The Colorado bill was supported by insurance companies because it created a level playing field by ensuring all insurers would have to provide the policies (http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/print-edition/2011/01/21/Insurers-push-mandate-for-child-health.html).
Hamilton’s legislation would benefit an estimated 1,000 Oklahoma children who are not covered by family plans or Medicaid. In many instances, grandparents raising grandchildren are covered by Medicare, but cannot add their grandchildren to that program and are not eligible to enroll the children in Medicaid. In those cases, child-only policies have traditionally been obtained.
However, many insurance companies have dropped infant policies in the past year, a practice tacitly endorsed by the Oklahoma Insurance Department through a recent agency rule.
In light of industry support in Colorado, Hamilton said the Insurance Department’s actions are baffling.
“Sadly, what our state regulators have done is not pro-life or even ‘pro-choice,’ it’s flat-out pro-abortion due to the massive financial pressure it imposes on desperate families,” Hamilton said. “No one, not even the most ardent abortion advocate, would countenance doing a thing like this to Oklahoma families.”
The board of the Oklahoma High Risk Pool recently voted to provide coverage to newborns, but Hamilton noted that those policies are very expensive, costing about 150 percent of average premiums nationwide, making them unaffordable for many families.
She called on all pro-life lawmakers from both political parties to join her in support of the legislation.
“This is not a partisan issue,”Hamilton said. “It is about the lives and well-being of some of the most vulnerable citizens we were elected to protect: disabled children in their first year of life.”
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Posted on
Wed, February 1, 2012
by ODP Communications
filed under