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[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2578 Placed on Calendar Senate (PCS)]

                                                       Calendar No. 459
113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2578

  To ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees' birth 
                control and other health care decisions.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 9, 2014

   Mrs. Murray (for herself, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
Begich, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Brown, 
Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Franken, Mrs. 
   Gillibrand, Mrs. Hagan, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Heinrich, Ms. Hirono, Mr. 
   Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Levin, Mr. 
Markey, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Reid, 
 Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Stabenow, Mr. 
Tester, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, Mr. Walsh, Ms. Warren, Mr. Whitehouse, 
    Mr. Wyden, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Coons, and Mr. Warner) introduced the 
             following bill; which was read the first time

                             July 10, 2014

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees' birth 
                control and other health care decisions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Women's Health From 
Corporate Interference Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to ensure that employers that provide 
health benefits to their employees cannot deny any specific health 
benefits, including contraception coverage, to any of their employees 
or the covered dependents of such employees entitled by Federal law to 
receive such coverage.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Access to the full range of health benefits and 
        preventive services, as guaranteed under Federal law or through 
        Federal regulations, provides all Americans with the 
        opportunity to lead healthier and more productive lives.
            (2) Birth control is a critical health care service for 
        women. Ninety-nine percent of sexually active women use birth 
        control at least once in their lifetimes, and the Centers for 
        Disease Control and Prevention declared it one of the Ten Great 
        Public Health Achievements of the 20th Century. While the most 
        common reason women use contraception is to prevent pregnancy, 
        58 percent of oral contraceptive users cite noncontraceptive 
        health benefits as reasons for using the method. Fourteen 
        percent of birth control pill users, more than 1,500,000 women, 
        rely on birth control pills for noncontraceptive purposes only.
            (3) In addition to providing health benefits for women, 
        access to birth control has been directly connected to women's 
        economic success and ability to participate in society equally. 
        Women with access to birth control are more likely to have 
        higher educational achievement and career achievement, and to 
        be paid higher wages.
            (4) The independent, nonprofit Institute of Medicine 
        recommends, as part of its recommended preventive health 
        measures, that women's preventive health be covered by health 
        plans with no cost-sharing to promote optimal health of women. 
        The Institute of Medicine noted that the contraceptive methods 
        recommendation was one of the most important recommendations 
        for women.
            (5) Affordability has long been a barrier to women being 
        able to use birth control and other preventive health services 
        effectively. A national survey of women who were currently 
        using some form of contraception found that one-third would 
        switch to a different method of contraception if they did not 
        have to worry about cost. Women citing cost concerns were twice 
        as likely as other women to rely on less effective methods of 
        contraception.
            (6) Three separate studies have found that lack of health 
        coverage is significantly associated with reduced use of 
        prescription contraceptives.
            (7) Cost-sharing requirements can dramatically reduce the 
        use of preventive health care measures, particularly among 
        lower-income women. Studies have shown that eliminating cost-
        sharing for the most effective forms of contraception 
        (intrauterine devices, implants, and injectables) leads to 
        sizable increases in the use of these methods.
            (8) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public 
        Law 111-148) sought to remove the barrier to care by requiring 
        all new health plans to cover recommended preventive services 
        without cost-sharing, which include women's preventative 
        services. These services include all methods of contraception 
        and sterilization approved by the Food and Drug Administration 
        and related education and counseling, as prescribed by a health 
        care provider.
            (9) The contraceptive coverage provision has been a success 
        in increasing access to this critical health service for women. 
        As of 2013, 47,000,000 women were covered by this requirement. 
        Women have saved $483,000,000 in out-of-pocket costs for oral 
        contraceptives with no copayments in 2013 compared to 2012.
            (10) The Journal of the American Medical Association 
        reports that 7 out of 10 people in the United States support 
        coverage of contraception, with significantly higher support 
        among women, Hispanic Americans, and Black Americans.
            (11) An estimated 76,000,000 people in the United States, 
        including 30,000,000 women, are newly eligible for expanded 
        preventive services coverage under the Patient Protection and 
        Affordable Care Act. A total of 48,500,000 women are estimated 
        to benefit from preventive services coverage without cost-
        sharing.
            (12) The most appropriate method of contraception varies 
        according to each individual woman's needs and medical history. 
        Women may have medical contraindications and thus not be able 
        to use certain types of contraceptive methods. It is therefore 
        vital that the full range of contraceptive methods approved by 
        the Food and Drug Administration be available in order to 
        ensure that each woman, in consultation with her medical 
        provider, can make appropriate decisions about her health care.
            (13) Covering proven preventative services like 
        contraception lowers health care spending as it improves 
        health. The Federal Government experienced no increase in costs 
        at all after it began covering contraceptives for Federal 
        employees. A study by the National Business Group on Health 
        estimated that it costs employers 15 to 17 percent more to not 
        provide contraceptive coverage in employee health plans, 
        accounting for the employer's direct medical costs of pregnancy 
        and indirect costs related to employee absence and reduced 
        productivity.
            (14) Dozens of cases have been filed in Federal court by 
        employers that want to take this benefit away from their 
        employees and the covered dependents of such employees.
            (15) On June 30, 2014, the Supreme Court held, in Burwell 
        v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties 
        Corp. v. Burwell, that some for-profit corporations can take 
        away the birth control coverage guaranteed to their employees 
        and the covered dependents of such employees through their 
        group health plan.
            (16) In a dissent in those cases, Justice Ruth Bader 
        Ginsburg states that in this ``decision of startling breadth . 
        . . the exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga . . . 
        would deny legions of women who do not hold their employers' 
        beliefs access to contraceptive coverage that the ACA would 
        otherwise secure.'' Justice Ginsburg also notes that the 
        decision opens up the door to religiously grounded employer 
        objections to a whole host of health care services like ``blood 
        transfusions . . .. antidepressants . . . medications derived 
        from pigs, including anesthesia . . . and vaccinations.''.
            (17) The Supreme Court's decision in those cases allows 
        employers, that otherwise provide coverage of preventive health 
        services, to deny their employees and the covered dependents of 
        such employees contraceptive coverage and to treat a critical 
        women's health service differently than other comparable 
        services. Legislation is needed to clarify that employers may 
        not discriminate against their employees and dependents.
            (18) It is imperative that Congress act to reinstate 
        contraception coverage and to protect employees and the covered 
        dependents of such employees from other attempts to take away 
        coverage for other health benefits to which such employees and 
        dependents are entitled under Federal law.
            (19) This Act is intended to be consistent with the 
        Congressional intent in enacting the Religious Freedom and 
        Restoration Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-141), and with the 
        exemption for houses of worship, and an accommodation for 
        religiously-affiliated nonprofit organizations with objections 
        to contraceptive coverage.

SEC. 4. ENSURING COVERAGE OF SPECIFIC BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--An employer that establishes or maintains a group 
health plan for its employees (and any covered dependents of such 
employees) shall not deny coverage of a specific health care item or 
service with respect to such employees (or dependents) where the 
coverage of such item or service is required under any provision of 
Federal law or the regulations promulgated thereunder. A group health 
plan, as defined in section 733(a) of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1191b(a)), sponsored by an employer, 
employee organization, or both, and any health insurance coverage, as 
defined in section 2791(b) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
300gg-91) is required to provide coverage required under the Public 
Health Service Act, including section 2713 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
300gg-13), in addition to other applicable requirements.
    (b) Application.--Subsection (a) shall apply notwithstanding any 
other provision of Federal law, including Public Law 103-141.
    (c) Regulations.--The regulations contained in sections 54.9815-
2713A of title 26, 2590.715-2713A of title 29, and 147.131 of title 45, 
Code of Federal Regulations, shall apply with respect to this section. 
The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the Treasury 
may modify such regulations consistent with the purpose and findings of 
this Act.
    (d) Enforcement.--The provisions of this Act shall apply to plan 
sponsors, group health plans, and health insurance issuers as if 
enacted in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 
U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 
seq.), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Any failure by a plan 
sponsor, group health plan, or health insurance issuer to comply with 
the provisions of this Act shall be subject to enforcement through part 
5 of subtitle B of title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security 
Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), section 2723 of the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg-22), and section 4980D of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986.
                                                       Calendar No. 459

113th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                                S. 2578

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

  To ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees' birth 
                control and other health care decisions.

_______________________________________________________________________

                             July 10, 2014

            Read the second time and placed on the calendar
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