Malloy Expresses Reservations About Insurance Mandate For Pregnant Women
The bill is "undoubtedly admirable in its public policy goal," Malloy said. But he predicted that it would undermine the stability of the insurance market and cause a spike in premiums.
The measure, approved unanimously by the
Advocates, who included
The Democratic governor did not veto the bill, but he also did not sign it, a signal of his discomfort with the measure. This marks the first time Malloy has allowed a bill to become law without his signature.
In a letter to lawmakers, Malloy said he took that approach because he wanted to draw attention to the issue.
"This legislation weakens one of the fundamental tenets of our health insurance system, which is the polling and spreading of risk," he wrote. "Permitting the diagnosis of a health condition to be a triggering event for a special enrollment period has a disproportionate effect on the insurance risk pool, increasing the costs for every single person seeking to purchase insurance on the individual market."
"
Fasano said Malloy and other
"He is a hypocrite," Fasano said. "For someone who claims he is a champion for women his flat out refusal to sign a common sense bill to help pregnant women access prenatal care shows his true colors. This bill helps women and their babies who are vulnerable to risky pregnancies and complications throughout their entire lives because they have to wait until their babies are born before they can obtain health insurance. It's not right. This bill makes
Malloy said some proponents of the bill knew of its potential destabilizing impact yet they supported it anyway, because they are philosophically opposed to the Affordable Care Act. "As the home of the insurance industry, this cannot be the example that we set for the rest of the country," he said.
The governor also noted that the state offers a number of programs that allow pregnant women access to insurance.
Malloy said he is willing to continue the discussion with lawmakers and even call them back into session to devise a fix to offset what he predicts will be premium increases caused by the mandate.
Also Friday, Malloy vetoed a bill that would have limited a governor's authority to make budget recessions and other cuts to local education cost-sharing grants to municipalities. It was Malloy's first veto of the year.
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