Individual health insurance policies in Colorado must cover pregnancy beginning in 2011.
In March, 2010, Colorado enacted a law requiring health insurers offer maternity health insurance coverage beginning in 2011. Previously, maternity riders to health insurance were expensive and hard to get.
Maternity Coverage Before 2011
All routine health insurance policies cover complications of pregnancy, but not pregnancy itself. Coverage of pregnancy is either available through group coverage or as a maternity rider on an individual policy. Maternity riders tend to be very expensive, and require a waiting period, as pregnancy is considered a pre-existing condition in Colorado.
State-Mandated Maternity Coverage
In March, 2010, Colorado enacted a law mandating maternity coverage and coverage of contraception with all individual health insurance policies. The coverage is not available to women who are already pregnant, whose pregnancies will be excluded as a pre-existing condition.
Questions About State-Mandated Maternity Coverage
Questions still remain regarding whether insurers are mandated to accept pregnant women for coverage, excluding the pregnancy. It is also an open question as to whether maternity coverage is automatically added to coverages in effect on Jan. 1, 2011, or whether it is only added to new or renewing policies.
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