November 28th, 2017 by WCBC Radio

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh today joined a coalition of 19 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief strongly opposing the Trump Administration’s decision to roll back a requirement under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for employers to include birth control coverage in their health insurance plans.

The amicus brief, filed today with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, supports the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s lawsuit to stop the federal government from enforcing a new regulatory rule that would authorize virtually any employer with a religious or moral objection to block their employees, and their employees’ dependents, from receiving health insurance coverage for contraceptive care and services.

“This roll back takes away women’s rights, and puts family planning in the hands of employers, not with their workers,” said Attorney General Frosh. “Personal decisions like these should be made by women, with the advice and guidance of their healthcare provider, not their employer.”

Since the ACA was enacted in 2010, most employers who provide health insurance coverage to their employees have been required to include coverage for contraception, at no cost to the employee. As a result of the ACA, more than 55 million women in the United States have access to birth control with no out-of-pocket costs.

In 1998, the Maryland General Assembly mandated contraceptive coverage for certain State-regulated insurance plans. In 2016, it built upon this earlier progress by enacting the Maryland Contraceptive Equity Act. This new law, effective January 2018, extends the contraceptive coverage requirements under the ACA by requiring coverage of over-the-counter contraceptive medications, providing for coverage of up to 6-months dispensing of birth control, and expanding vasectomy coverage without cost-sharing and deductible requirements.

Maryland’s contraceptive coverage law applies only to State-regulated health plans. Thus, while it will protect Maryland women and their families in regulated plans from President Trump’s latest rollback of coverage protections, it will not help those in employer self-insured health plans, through which 50 percent of covered Marylanders are insured.

In today’s brief, the attorneys general argue that the new rule is unconstitutional by allowing the federal government to endorse certain religious beliefs over a woman’s right to make choices about her own health care.

The attorneys general also argue that the rule discriminates against women and denies equal protection under the law by allowing employers to assert religious beliefs as a justification for denying critical benefits, while leaving coverage for men unchanged. Additionally, they argue that the Trump Administration is taking away the right to contraceptive coverage – a right that millions of women rely on – in violation of the ACA itself, and without any opportunity for public comment and without a careful review of the issue as required by federal law.

In filing today’s amicus brief, Attorney General Frosh was joined by attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.