| Robin Llewellyn is a member of the Masters, Mates and Pilots Union. She is based in Seattle where she works for Horizon Lines, as a licensed third mate in charge of safety inspection. She has been a union member and Horizon employee for two and a half years. Robin earned a BS in Marine Transportation from the California Maritime Academy in April 2003 and received her third mate unlimited tonnage license for steamer motors in June of that year.
For Robin, who is in her mid-20s, contraception is a particular concern: Her chosen profession – which can keep her at sea for long stretches – and the cost of contraception is high. She, therefore, asked the health plan administrator if prescription contraception drugs and devices were covered. She found out that they weren’t.
Robin didn’t think that was right. She was fed up with paying $200 a year out of pocket for prescription birth control, and the plan otherwise had a comprehensive prescription benefit package.
Since there aren’t many women in her union – and hardly any in Seattle – Robin went on the internet for assistance. She found the Coalition of Labor Union Women’s Contraceptive Equity Project, the National Women’s Law Center and Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and got in touch with all three. She immediately realized that she wasn’t alone!
Robin quickly found out that there are two federal decisions and 20 state laws that provide solid legal arguments for contraceptive coverage. The federal decisions and the state laws require “contraceptive equity" -- that is, that health plans which provide preventive drugs and devices generally must include the full range of contraceptive methods in all health plans. The federal decisions allow employers that don’t provide contraceptive equity to be sued under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Law, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Suits under state laws are subject to the respective state’s legal system. Unfortunately, neither these federal decisions nor the state laws are proactively enforced. In other words, if employees (and/or their unions) don’t push for their rights, no one else will.
Initially, Robin pursued a personal and legal strategy. She contacted the MM&P Plan Administrator and asked to appear before the board of trustees (the plan is a Taft-Hartley Fund, that is, it is jointly administered by union and management trustees) and make a personal appeal. She was invited to appear, bought the plane ticket to Baltimore and was ready to have lawyers from the National Women’s Law Center there to assist if technical questions were asked.
About 10 days before she was to appear, she contacted CLUW – which was able, through its personal union contacts, to have a union colleague speak to the union president – bringing to his attention the AFL-CIO’s resolution on the issue and coverage under its health plan – in addition to the fact that covering contraception actually saves money! He must have been convinced, because three days before the meeting, Robin received a call from the plan administrator, informing her that she did not need to address the meeting, as the union was adding the issue to its agenda.
The union published the announcement that it was adding contraceptive coverage in its Feb. 2, 2006 e-newsletter, The Masters, Mates & Pilots’ Wheelhouse Weekly (see box at right).
The Coalition of Labor Union Women’s Contraceptive Equity Project (CEP) is leading the way on this issue for unions. CEP was created in the spring of 2001. Its goal is to use federal decisions and state laws to secure comprehensive contraceptive coverage in all health plans that cover union members (13 million of them) and their dependents. The Project is committed to making certain that unions are aware that their members have the right to contraceptive equity and that they know the facts regarding cost, including:
- One study found that the cost of adding contraceptive coverage to health plans is estimated to cost less than $2 per month, per enrollee.
- The U.S. Office of Personnel Management reported that the federal government added contraceptive coverage at no increased cost.
- Adding contraceptive coverage indirectly reduces labor costs by reducing absenteeism.
- The Washington Business Group has said that "not providing contraceptive coverage may in fact cost an employer 15-17% more than providing coverage."
CLUW urges union members to check their health benefit plans to see if they provide contraceptive equity. If you have any questions, CLUW urges you to be in touch. Also, CLUW has a list of unions that have gained contraceptive equity coverage since the project began in 2001. If your union should be on this list – and isn’t – please let CLUW know, as the only way we learn this information is by union members telling us.*
Before this, Robin had no idea about CLUW nor the other organizations that exist to assist and bring together working women. Robin stopped by the CLUW office when she was in Washington (since she had bought the ticket to appear at the trustees’ meeting in Baltimore, she decided to use it). She wanted to thank CLUW and become a national member in person. She will also join the Puget Sound Chapter when she gets home.
|
| The following announcement appeared in the Feb. 2, 2006
e-newsletter, The Masters, Mates & Pilots’ Wheelhouse Weekly: |
ATTENTION MM&P HEALTH & BENEFIT PLAN PARTICIPANTS
At the Trustee meetings of February 1-2, the Board moved to add the following benefit to the Health & Benefit Plan:
Effective February 1, the Plan will cover all forms of contraception including oral contraceptives, tubal ligations, vasectomies, etc. for members and spouses only. Dependent children will not be eligible for contraceptive coverage. The sole exception for dependent coverage would be oral contraceptives only with physician letters of medical necessity approved by the Plan Office. |
*CLUW Contraceptive Equity Project
Carolyn J. Jacobson, Director
cjacobson@cluw.org
202-508-6901
|
