Letter: Legislator defends Assembly bill

Monday, April 26, 1999 | 12:16 p.m.

Assembly Bill 60 is a legitimate attempt to correct an inequality which potentially affects hundreds of thousands of Nevada women. The health care insurance industry readily covers drugs men want, such as Viagra, while denying coverage for drugs women need for hormone therapy or contraception. This policy of inequality is one of the reasons health care costs women more than men. It is one of the reasons poorer women have more health problems and unintended pregnancies.

AB60 is aimed only at insurance providers. You present an argument that two hospitals are "open targets" of this legislation. They aren't targets. They simply happen to be the only two hospitals that are both insurers as well as holders of a religious connection.

Because there were legitimate concerns of conscience, I proposed an exemption for religious beliefs which was based on them being tax exempt as a religious organization. Unfortunately the original conscience clause didn't cover them because they aren't tax exempt as a religious organization because of the circumstances that follow.

I discovered the main hospital in question, St. Mary's in Reno, is not a religious organization, nor is it owned or operated by a religious organization or church. It qualifies for charitable status only because St. Mary's Regional Medical Center provides indigent care. Saint Mary's Healthfirst is a business that provides health insurance.

As such we should expect it to play by the same rules as other insurers and meet the same standards of fairness and equity. St. Mary's Health Care corporation, however, is "sponsored" by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. Based on this connection the hospital argues that it should have a religious exemption.

You refer to the conscience clause as "brazen as a sneak can be" yet that language was discussed in a public hearing. And it is worth noting that the bill passed out of committee with a unanimous vote after that discussion.

Still, the issue is important and, in an effort to accommodate religious objectors, additional changes have been prepared to ensure that we protect religious convictions and still maintain fair treatment for women.

Chris Giunchigliani, State assemblywoman