House Bill 3391, also known as the Reproductive Health Equity Act, is a bill that provides for expanded coverage for some Oregonians to access free reproductive health services, especially those who, in the past, may have not been eligible for coverage of these services. It also provides protections for the continuation of reproductive health services with no cost sharing, such as co-pays or payments toward deductibles, and prohibits discrimination in the provision of reproductive health services.
Benefits to those with private insurance
The Reproductive Health Equity Act ensures that people with Oregon private health insurance plans, including employee-sponsored coverage, have access to reproductive health and related preventive services with no cost sharing regardless of what happens with the Affordable Care Act.
The bill includes prohibition of services on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age or disability. This protection may be an immediate benefit for trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. For example, an individual who was assigned female at birth and identifies as male goes into a provider for cervical cancer screening, but his insurance only covers these screenings for females. The Reproductive Health Equity Act ensures that insurance must cover services for this individual, regardless of his name, or what gender is on his driver’s license or his birth certificate.
Benefits to individuals who would otherwise be eligible for medical assistance if not for their immigration status
The Reproductive Health Equity Act provides benefits for Oregonians who have been excluded from coverage of the full range of services in the past and who can become pregnant. For example, women who are undocumented including DACA recipients and women who have held lawful permanent resident status for less than five years. These women have limited options for coverage for preventive reproductive health services at no cost sharing under the Affordable Care Act. Now, many of those services are covered under the Reproductive Health Equity Act. Medical care for individuals up to 60-day postpartum will also be covered.
What services are available under this program?
Individuals are eligible for a full range of reproductive health services, including the following:
- A comprehensive list of FDA approved contraception, and contraceptive-related services including counseling;
- Voluntary sterilization;
- Screenings for pregnancy, sexually-transmitted infections (STIs), breast and cervical cancers, genetic cancer risk factors;
- Counseling on tobacco use, STIs, and relationship safety; and
- Abortion.