City Council Introduces Women's Health Notice Act
NARAL Pro-Choice New York Applauds Introduction of
The Women's Health Notice Act
NARAL Pro-Choice New York commends City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Health Committee Chair Chris Quinn, for introducing legislation that would help ensure low-income women enrolled in Medicaid managed care plans receive the family planning care to which they are entitled.
“Women have the right to know whether or not their HMO covers family planning care,” said Kelli Conlin, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice New York. “By requiring HMO’s to prominently disclose their policy, women can make smarter choices.”
Under state law, all Medicaid enrollees are entitled to a wide range of reproductive health services, including contraception, abortion and sterilization. However, some Medicaid managed care plans ‘opt-out’ of offering these services, forcing enrollees to seek this critical care elsewhere.
NARAL Pro-Choice New York is primarily concerned with Fidelis, also known as the New York State Catholic Health Care Plan, that fails to provide reproductive health services based on the plan’s moral objections. Research by the NARAL Pro-Choice New York Foundation revealed that women were ill-informed about Fidelis’ failure to provide family planning services in their benefit package. The research also found women faced difficulty in understanding how this care could be accessed elsewhere, and faced numerous obstacles and delays in receiving time-sensitive health services.
The Women's Health Notice Act addresses this health risk by ensuring that both current and potential enrollees of managed care organizations are fully informed when reproductive health care is not provided, and where they may obtain these services elsewhere
“We live in an age when fully three-quarters of the primary health care services sought by women of childbearing age relate to reproductive health care,” said Ms. Conlin. “It is essential that women have immediate access to this care, and have all the facts at their disposal to make proper, informed health decisions.”
“We applaud Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Councilwoman Quinn for their leadership in protecting the reproductive health of the women of New York City,” said Ms. Conlin. “We now call on the City Council to pass this critical legislation, and for Mayor Bloomberg to sign the bill into law.”
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