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Faculty Push University for Contraceptive Coverage
The University of Nebraska's board of regents agreed to include prescription contraceptives in the university-wide benefits plan after a group of women faculty and staff lobbied for the change with assistance from the National Women's Law Center (NWLC). Excluding prescription contraceptives from a benefits plan in which other prescriptions are included constitutes unlawful sex discrimination, wrote representatives of the NWLC to the Nebraska administration in April.
The university's benefits committee had discussed contraceptive coverage from time to time in the past, said a university spokesperson, and decided to add the coverage now in order to remain competitive in hiring and retaining employees. The coverage took effect July 1.
It is not unusual for health-insurance plans to exclude coverage of contraceptive drugs and devices, according to the NWLC; this gap in insurance coverage is a leading reason why women of reproductive age spend 68 percent more than men in out-of-pocket health-care costs.
A general brochure on getting contraceptive coverage from your employer is available from the NWLC's Web site <www.nwlc.org>.
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