Posted on 10/20/2013 3:45:47 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Starting next January, health insurance plans in California must offer coverage for fertility treatments to homosexual couples and unmarried individuals under a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday.
The law amends the state’s Insurance Code to prohibit insurers from withholding coverage for most fertility treatments based on “age, ancestry, color, disability, domestic partner status, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, national origin, sex or sexual orientation.” (See AB460.pdf)
Most fertility treatments, including some that cost tens of thousands of dollars, are included, such as “diagnosis, diagnostic tests, medication, surgery, and gamete intrafallopian transfer.” Although the law covers artificial insemination, it specifically excludes in vitro fertilization.
The bill also contains a conscience clause that “shall not be construed to require any plan, which is a subsidiary of an entity whose owner or corporate member is a religious organization, to offer coverage for treatment of infertility in a manner inconsistent with that religious organization’s religious and ethical principles.”
A.B.460 was introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Franciso Democrat and LGBT rights activist who portrayed himself in a film starring Sean Penn about the murder of openly gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk by a disgruntled former supervisor.
"To restrict fertility coverage solely to heterosexual married couples violates California's non-discrimination laws. I wrote this bill to correct that," Ammiano said in a statement praising Brown for signing the legislation.
“We applaud the Governor and the Legislature for recognizing that same-sex couples, transgender people, and single women should have equal access to fertility services,” echoed Cathy Sakimura, Family Protection Project director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Couples in California currently have to try to conceive naturally for 12 months before coverage for fertility treatments kicks in.
"The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recently released updated clinical guidelines on assessment and treatment for people with fertility problems. Included in the guidelines are definitions for when men and women in same-sex relationships not having vaginal intercourse should be eligible for assessment and possible treatment for infertility. Specifically, the clinical guidelines state that “for same-sex couples, failure to conceive after 6 cycles of [artificial insemination] within the 12 past months should be the indication for further assessment,” according to an analysis of the bill by the California Health Benefits Review Program.
The report noted that AB460’s “impact on costs is unknown,” including whether the additional costs of providing fertility treatment to gays and unmarried individuals will shift to other public or private premium payers.
The California Association of Health Plans took no position on the final version of the bill. “I think that the plans will move forward and implement the law,” spokeswoman Nicole Evans told reporters.
Commit a crime and get the public to pay for your sex change operation. Real smart, brave new world huh?
These mandates have been going on for 20 years since Clinton.
One after another, they just pile on the cost of insurance.
The first mandate I really recognized was 20 years ago when insurance policies were required to cover more than 1 day for childbirth. Big campaign to get that through, as if it was a “free benefit”.
The idea that any fertility treatments should be required to be covered for anyone seems ridiculous
I’ve been trying to figure that out too. Maybe they figure they can make a killing the next five to ten years before Obamacare puts them out of business.
“The idea that any fertility treatments should be required to be covered for anyone seems ridiculous.”
Agreed. It also seems inconsistent with the Left’s demands for “zero population growth” and the “why doesn’t anyone adopt the unwanted children who are already here?” mantra.
We are living in a world that even Lewis Carroll could not have imagined.
I remember the days when the homosexualist activists used to say that one of the “blessings” of homosexuality was how it would reduce overpopulation.
Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland and the world through the looking glass seem saner that modern day California.
I thought leftists wanted to reduce the population. No new hip for granny though.
Exactly why do same sex “couples” need access to diagnosis and diagnostic tests to figure out why they can’t have children. I knew they were perverts, but are they really that stupid? As for medication and surgery, there is no medication that will permit a same-sex “couple” to get pregnant. Someone needs a sex education course that covers normality, not one on masturbation, abortion, and diversity, if they have trouble figuring this out.
They want male trannies with access to free birth control, you tell me thats not mentally ill
That should be a trick .... two male queers trying to get pregnant .... only in Californicate. Maybe it is covered if they rent a female queer for breeding purposes...the other one not butch.
So glad I don’t live in CA.
I have to wonder how this would work on a guy. Just askin' the question.
“. . . fertility treatments to homosexual couples “
This is one of those Jay Leno Jaywalking bits, no?
You can give a man in a dress all the female hormones you like, and he will never have a baby
Is it a gay marriage if a lesbian hooks up with a homosexual guy?
Who gets the fertility treatments?
Male homosexuals and lesbians don’t get along, as a general rule, so that match-up is unlikely for 1,000 different reasons.
They’re working on it, if you can believe it:
The Science of Male Pregnancy
http://www.malepregnancy.com/science/
>”Couples in California currently have to try to conceive naturally for 12 months before coverage for fertility treatments kicks in”<
Unless a Gay guy has a Uterus up his A$$, it ain’t happening. After twelve months of trying, he’ll need an Anus Transplant.
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