News
2007-07-21
R.I. governor
blocks bill requiring infertility treatment coverage for
the unmarried
Rhode Island
governor Don Carcieri has vetoed a bill requiring health
insurers to cover
Rhode Island
governor Don Carcieri has vetoed a bill requiring health
insurers to cover infertility treatments for unmarried
people, saying they shouldn't be forced to subsidize
out-of-wedlock births.
The Republican
governor, who opposes same-sex marriage and civil unions,
warned that eliminating the marriage restriction would also
drive up health care costs.
''As a matter of
public policy, the state should be encouraging the birth
of children to two-parent families, not the reverse,'' he
said in a written statement Thursday announcing his
Wednesday veto.
Two weeks ago
Carcieri permitted another bill to become law without his
signature that required insurers to increase the age cap on
eligible women to 42 from 40. It also required
insurers to pay for infertility treatments after a
couple fails to conceive or carry a pregnancy after
one year of trying, instead of two.
But Carcieri
balked when Democratic state representative Edith Ajello's
bill went one step further and eliminated the marriage
requirement.
Ajello, a
prominent supporter of same-sex marriage, said her
legislation could benefit heterosexual couples who
choose not to wed, lesbian couples barred from
marrying in Rhode Island, and single women. She said
infertility treatment can cost as much as $20,000, making it
prohibitively expensive without insurance coverage.
''I do think it's
an issue of civil rights, of discrimination, of not
looking at people with an equal eye,'' Ajello said. ''I
think we get into a very potentially dangerous
situation when we decide who should have children and
who shouldn't.'' (Ray Henry, AP)
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