NBC ‘Nightly News’ Examines Inequities in Women’s Health Insurance Coverage

The New York State Legislature this month passed a bill (S 5626) requiring private health plans to cover certain women's health services, part of a nationwide trend to rectify what some see as "inequality in women's health care coverage," NBC "Nightly News" reports. New York is the 19th state to pass measures offering coverage "unique to women," including birth control, regular osteoporosis screenings and annual mammograms for women ages 40 and above. State Assembly member Deborah Glick (D) said, "I think what's important is a recognition that women's health needs have not been adequately addressed by the way in which insurance is structured." Critics of the New York bill, however, say that it offers coverage only to those who already have private insurance, while insurers note that "someone has to pay" for the newly required services. Karen Ignagni, president of the American Association of Health Plans, said, "The basic issue here is can employers continue to sustain greater and greater burdens being imposed on them at a time when health care costs are skyrocketing?" With New York Gov. George Pataki (R) and others running for re-election this year, some critics contend that the trend "may have more to do with politics than with health care." Psychiatrist and author Dr. Sally Satel noted, "It's a very popular course to offer more to [women]. And it's also very unpopular to be against such an innovation. So it's kind of a political winner," (Bazell, NBC "Nightly News," 6/27).