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Employers Ignore, Fight Contraception Equity for Women Unions Must Push Companies to Follow Law, Act
It’s one of the best-kept secrets in health insurance today, but CWA, the Coalition of Labor Union Women and the AFL-CIO are working hard to spread the word: If employers’ health plans cover prescription drugs, they’ve also got to cover women’s birth control.
Known as contraception equity, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in December 2000 that excluding contraceptives from health plans violates the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. A federal District Court judge in Washington state upheld the EEOC decision last year.
“Right now, women pay 68 percent more than men do on average for out-of-pocket health care expenses,” CLUW President Gloria Johnson said. “Before, our best arguments in negotiations were twofold: not providing comprehensive contraceptive coverage is unfair to women and ignoring the long-term benefits drives up costs for all health consumers. We now have the law on our side.”
But too many women and unions are still unaware of their rights, and many employers are only too happy to plead ignorance — or are putting up a fight when unions bring the federal ruling, as well as similar laws now on the books in 19 states, to their attention.
“It’s ludicrous that health plans pay for Viagra and don’t cover contraceptives,” said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley, whose sector is urging locals to take up the matter with employers. “This is an issue of basic equity and fairness. Contraception is very much a health care concern for all workers and it should be treated no differently than other necessary prescriptions.”
The Guild recently won birth control coverage for Associated Press workers, with the company settling just before an arbitration hearing. Guild and CWA Printing Sector workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette negotiated contraception coverage in their new contract.
One employer balking at the Guild’s efforts is Dow Jones. Managers have refused repeated requests from workers to include the coverage in the media company’s top health plan, leading a Wall Street Journal reporter and two employees at SmartMoney magazine to file a complaint with the EEOC.
Johnson, who is also CWA women’s and community services coordinator and a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said covering contraception isn’t just fair, it’s good business.
Right now, women pay about $30 to $60 a month out of pocket for birth control. But a recent study showed that adding contraception to health plans costs only $1.43 per month per employee, and that those costs may be more than offset by a reduction in pregnancies. Further, most health plans pay for abortions, which are far more expensive than the annual cost of preventing pregnancy, equity advocates say.
In fact, Johnson noted that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported that the federal government showed no increase in cost when it added contraceptive coverage to its health plan.
She said what workers and unions must do now is make sure their companies know about the new laws and press management to make the necessary changes quickly. Companies that don’t comply are subject to EEOC complaints, follow-up investigations and lawsuits. The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, a unit of TNG-CWA that represents Dow Jones workers, has authorized a lawsuit if the company continues to drag its feet.
Realizing that federal legislation would carry more weight with employers than the EEOC rule, activists urge workers to push lawmakers for a vote on the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act. The bill, H.R. 1111 and S. 104, has been introduced three times: in 1997, 1999 and 2001, but has stalled in committees.
Delegates to the CWA convention, as well as members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, have passed resolutions urging union members to make contraception equity a priority. Toward that end, CLUW has put a comprehensive “toolkit” on its website, packed with background information, fact sheets and sample letters to employers to seek contraceptive coverage, as well as a link to e-mail Congress to support the long-pending bill.
“There simply is no excuse for excluding women from health coverage in an area so important to them and to our society,” Johnson said. “As union activists, we have the ability to make sure union women, and the wives of male union members, have the best health benefits possible, and that includes comprehensive contraceptive coverage.”
For more information and tools to help your local approach employers about contraception equity, go to http://www.cluw.org/contraceptive.html on the Coalition of Labor Union Women website.
Known as contraception equity, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in December 2000 that excluding contraceptives from health plans violates the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. A federal District Court judge in Washington state upheld the EEOC decision last year.
“Right now, women pay 68 percent more than men do on average for out-of-pocket health care expenses,” CLUW President Gloria Johnson said. “Before, our best arguments in negotiations were twofold: not providing comprehensive contraceptive coverage is unfair to women and ignoring the long-term benefits drives up costs for all health consumers. We now have the law on our side.”
But too many women and unions are still unaware of their rights, and many employers are only too happy to plead ignorance — or are putting up a fight when unions bring the federal ruling, as well as similar laws now on the books in 19 states, to their attention.
“It’s ludicrous that health plans pay for Viagra and don’t cover contraceptives,” said The Newspaper Guild-CWA President Linda Foley, whose sector is urging locals to take up the matter with employers. “This is an issue of basic equity and fairness. Contraception is very much a health care concern for all workers and it should be treated no differently than other necessary prescriptions.”
The Guild recently won birth control coverage for Associated Press workers, with the company settling just before an arbitration hearing. Guild and CWA Printing Sector workers at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette negotiated contraception coverage in their new contract.
One employer balking at the Guild’s efforts is Dow Jones. Managers have refused repeated requests from workers to include the coverage in the media company’s top health plan, leading a Wall Street Journal reporter and two employees at SmartMoney magazine to file a complaint with the EEOC.
Johnson, who is also CWA women’s and community services coordinator and a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said covering contraception isn’t just fair, it’s good business.
Right now, women pay about $30 to $60 a month out of pocket for birth control. But a recent study showed that adding contraception to health plans costs only $1.43 per month per employee, and that those costs may be more than offset by a reduction in pregnancies. Further, most health plans pay for abortions, which are far more expensive than the annual cost of preventing pregnancy, equity advocates say.
In fact, Johnson noted that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported that the federal government showed no increase in cost when it added contraceptive coverage to its health plan.
She said what workers and unions must do now is make sure their companies know about the new laws and press management to make the necessary changes quickly. Companies that don’t comply are subject to EEOC complaints, follow-up investigations and lawsuits. The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, a unit of TNG-CWA that represents Dow Jones workers, has authorized a lawsuit if the company continues to drag its feet.
Realizing that federal legislation would carry more weight with employers than the EEOC rule, activists urge workers to push lawmakers for a vote on the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act. The bill, H.R. 1111 and S. 104, has been introduced three times: in 1997, 1999 and 2001, but has stalled in committees.
Delegates to the CWA convention, as well as members of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, have passed resolutions urging union members to make contraception equity a priority. Toward that end, CLUW has put a comprehensive “toolkit” on its website, packed with background information, fact sheets and sample letters to employers to seek contraceptive coverage, as well as a link to e-mail Congress to support the long-pending bill.
“There simply is no excuse for excluding women from health coverage in an area so important to them and to our society,” Johnson said. “As union activists, we have the ability to make sure union women, and the wives of male union members, have the best health benefits possible, and that includes comprehensive contraceptive coverage.”
For more information and tools to help your local approach employers about contraception equity, go to http://www.cluw.org/contraceptive.html on the Coalition of Labor Union Women website.