To "correct" a recent "misguided" federal court ruling that not covering contraceptives is not discriminatory, Congress should pass a bill (S 21) that would require health insurance companies to cover contraceptives if they cover other prescriptions, a Los Angeles Times editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 3/30). A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis earlier this month ruled 2-1 that Union Pacific Railroad's policy of not covering contraceptives does not discriminate against women. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and two female Union Pacific employees filed a lawsuit that seeks to require the company to provide coverage for FDA-approved prescription contraceptives for female employees and the female family members of male employees covered by the company's health plan. U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp in July 2005 ruled that Union Pacific -- which employs about 49,000 workers nationwide, including 1,300 women -- illegally discriminated against female employees by not providing contraceptive coverage in its health plans. The panel overturned Smith Camp's ruling, writing that the contraception coverage provided to women by Union Pacific "is not less favorable than that provided to men" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 3/19). The ruling "flies in the face of both the law and logic," and it has given "new urgency" to the bill, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), which also would provide women better access to contraceptives, according to the Times. Although 24 states have passed laws requiring health insurance plans to cover contraceptives, "state laws are not the solution," the editorial says (Los Angeles Times, 3/30).

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