North Carolina Act to Modify Religious Employer Exception for Contraceptive Coverage (SB 498)

SB 498 would have permitted a religious employer to request that an insurer provide a health benefit plan that excludes coverage for prescription contraceptive drugs or devices that are contrary to the employer’s religious tenets. Upon request, the insurer would have been required to provide such a health benefit plan and would have been required to provide written notice to each person covered under the plan that contraception is excluded from the plan. 

The bill would not have authorized a health benefit plan to exclude contraception ordered by a health-care provider for reasons other than contraceptive purposes or to preserve the life or health of a person covered under the plan.

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