January 1, 2011 portends huge changes in Colorado Health Insurance Law. Colorado House Bill 10-1021 mandates that all individual health insurance policies that go into effect on or after January 1, 2011 must include coverage for routine maternity. Maternity must be treated in the same manner as any other sickness or injury. The days of the separate maternity deductible and separately purchased add on maternity coverage are over. While in the past, complications of pregnancy were covered, under the new Colorado law, routine prenatal and delivery costs will now be required to be covered, as well.
For those planning on having a baby right away, it means that you can buy an individual policy and get pregnant the following month and have all maternity expenses covered with the same medical deductible as other medical costs! However, if you are already pregnant, you will not be able to add on the maternity coverage with a new individual policy, until the pregnancy is over. In such circumstances, your best bet is to get on a group plan, if you are able, where maternity is immediately covered.
Unfortunately, for those men and women who are not planning a pregnancy, it also means higher premiums for them as well. Men and women have historically used health care quite differently. Typically in the past, women would utilize more medical care and pay more for health insurance, until around age 55. After age 55, men typically use more and have paid more for health insurance at that point, than women. Starting in 2011, Colorado House Bill 10-1008 will require gender neutralityť in the pricing of health insurance premiums. Male and female rates must be the same for each age group.
The most dramatic price shifting will impact those in their twenties and thirties. Men in this age group will see a substantial increase in their premiums, while the ladies will only see a modest increase, or even a slight decrease in prices. One of the key effects of these changes is to make new individual policies more closely resemble the group plans in Colorado. Group plans have always had maternity coverage included and gender neutral rates. The biggest winners in all of this, as just pointed out, are the younger women, who will be able to obtain maternity coverage as part of their major medical policy, whereas before it was unavailable or too expensive to purchase.
