Insurers regulated by NJ must provide 'comprehensive' abortion coverage

Murphy signed legislation last January that empowered the Department of Banking and Insurance to set up regulations mandating abortion coverage if a study by the department found it necessary.

The study did just that. Released in November, the study said that "state law protects the right to terminate a pregnancy without government interference" and that "abortion is part of comprehensive insurance coverage for reproductive care and should reasonably be included in the range of services coverage by health insurance."

Now both the Individual Health Coverage Program and the Small Employer Health Benefits Program boards voted to confirm comprehensive abortion coverage requirements as of Jan. 1 for the individual and small employer markets.

The department did not say in its announcement how many women could be covered under the new requirement, but most people get their insurance through federally regulated insurance provided through their employers. State-regulated plans include those offered to state workers.

Commissioner Marlene Caride said Friday that the department is "grateful for the boards' action to implement these important measures in time for the beginning of plan year 2023" and that the changes will "reduce barriers and expand access to comprehensive reproductive health care in the new year."

Both boards started the process last month but the changes were formally approved with unanimous votes on Dec. 29. The department regulates the individual market as well as the small- and large employer market. But the changes approved by the boards will affect the individual and small employer markets.

While insurance companies in those markets provide abortion coverage, carriers may limit it to cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life, the banking and insurance department said.

In the study, carriers estimated that the impact would range from zero to .1 percent, which means that "enacting an abortion coverage requirement would not be expected to materially impact insurance rates in the regulated markets."

These changes are just another step the Murphy administration has taken in the wake of the federal Supreme Court decision, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and removed federal reproductive health protections that had been in place for generations.

Measures have been taken throughout the country to codify protections but New Jersey legislators have taken it even further by prohibiting people who receive or perform an abortion in New Jersey from being extradited to a state that restricts or criminalizes the procedure and even barring public agencies in New Jersey from providing information to help in investigations by states that criminalize abortion.