Law center presses for health plans to provide pregnancy coverage for dependents

The National Women's Law Center filed complaints with the Department of Health and Human Services against a number of businesses and universities that don't include pregnancy coverage for dependents in their health plans. The Center contends that this is a violation of the health law.

The Wall Street Journal: Group Seeks Pregnancy Coverage For Dependents
A women's advocacy group has filed complaints with a federal agency against Auburn University, Gonzaga University and three other employers over health-insurance plans it says don't pay pregnancy costs for employees' dependent daughters. The five administrative complaints, filed Tuesday with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights, say the 2010 Affordable Care Act requires the pregnancy coverage. The complaints appear to be among the first instances in which a group is using specific provisions of the federal health-care law to challenge the design of an insurance policy (Trottman and Radnofsky, 6/4).

The Associated Press: Law Center: 5 Institutions Violate Health Care Law
The National Women's Law Center filed complaints Tuesday against several businesses and universities, claiming the institutions failed to offer pregnancy coverage to their employees' dependent children in violation of federal law. The center contends the five institutions are ignoring a provision of the federal Affordable Care Act prohibiting sex discrimination in health care programs that receive federal funds and discriminating against pregnant women on the basis of sex (6/4).

Kaiser Health News: Advocacy Group Seeks To Force Employers To Give Pregnancy Coverage To Dependents
The district-based advocacy group filed the complaints with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights. They allege that excluding coverage for maternity care for female dependent children violates Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which bars discrimination in any health program or activity that receives federal financial assistance, such as research grants or subsidies, says Levin (Andrews, 6/5).