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HOUSE MEMORIAL 10

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE NEW MEXICO HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION, IN

COOPERATION WITH THE INSURANCE DIVISION OF THE PUBLIC

REGULATION COMMISSION, CONTINUE TO EVALUATE THE BENEFITS OF

CONTRACEPTION USE, FURTHER THE USE OF THE NEW MEXICO

CONTRACEPTIVE COVERAGE WEB SITE AND DISSEMINATE INSURANCE

COVERAGE INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPLIANCE OF THE INSURANCE

INDUSTRY REGARDING COVERAGE OF PRESCRIPTION CONTRACEPTIVES.

WHEREAS, Sections 59A-22-42 and 59A-46-44 NMSA 1978

require health insurance providers that offer a prescription

drug benefit to also offer coverage for prescription

contraceptives; and

WHEREAS, the requirement to offer coverage for

prescription contraceptives took effect on June 15, 2001; and

WHEREAS, in 2001 and 2006, the legislature requested that

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studies be conducted to ascertain the level of knowledge of and

compliance with the requirement to offer coverage for

prescription contraceptives; and

WHEREAS, in 2006, House Memorial 38 requested the

insurance division of the public regulation commission and the

New Mexico health policy commission to disseminate information

about the compliance of the insurance industry with state law

and started the New Mexico contraceptive coverage web site

found on the internet at http://hpc.state.nm.us/contraception/

contraception.htm to provide information to the public; and

WHEREAS, many women fail to discover before obtaining

health insurance coverage whether the prescription

contraceptives that best fit their lifestyles are covered by

their insurance plans; and

WHEREAS, coverage of prescription contraceptives can

reduce the costs to health insurance carriers by providing

savings on health care costs due to reducing the expenses

associated with unintended pregnancies and by promoting better

health for mothers and their children; and

WHEREAS, many women still lack coverage for prescription

contraceptives, even though private insurance plans have

improved coverage in recent years, and many women still cannot

obtain the kind of contraception they prefer and that best fits

their lifestyles because of limitations in their health

insurance plans; and

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WHEREAS, there remains more information to be gathered and

disseminated, and it is necessary to keep the information

gathered current;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico

health policy commission be requested to work with the

insurance division of the public regulation commission to

continue their cooperative efforts to gather and assess

information regarding the compliance of the insurance industry

with New Mexico laws requiring prescription contraception

coverage and to disseminate the information gathered by their

cooperative effort by means of the New Mexico contraceptive

coverage web site, among other methods of public outreach, and

provide an evaluation of the compliance of the health insurers

in the state; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the insurance division of the

public regulation commission and the New Mexico health policy

commission continue their cooperative efforts to assess public

awareness of the availability of prescription contraceptive

coverage by health insurance providers and to develop and

evaluate public information campaigns to raise the level of

public awareness of insurance coverage of prescription

contraceptives, including expansion and updating of the New

Mexico contraceptive coverage web site; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

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transmitted to the New Mexico health policy commission and the

insurance division of the public regulation commission.

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