Real money and imaginary money look nothing alike when it comes to Arizona health insurance and the benefits that must be covered by federal mandate. Take birth control medication as an example. The general argument for, “free,” contraception is that insurers will save money by not having to pay for the birth of a child. What many forget is that health insurance companies in Arizona and elsewhere must balance their books at the end of the year. Contraception medication and surgeries cost real money, unknown future maternity costs are a big fat zero on the balance sheet.
Forcing Arizona health insurance companies to cover the pill and abortifacients under their preventive medicine benefits opens the door to other, or all, medications needing to be provided at no cost to the policyholder. Of course there is a cost, maybe not in co-pays, but certainly in premiums. It is a classic case of where does it end?
There is nothing free about having to pay the up front costs of the pill and other medications by Arizona health insurance companies, especially considering the cost of sterilization operations. “Revenue neutral,” does not mean it’s free, there is still the cost of paying the doctor for the prescription, the pharmacy for providing it, and the drug maker for manufacturing it. Health insurance companies cannot promise to pay these costs with imaginary future savings. What they can do, and will, is raise premiums to pay these up front costs.
Many large employers in Arizona are self insured, hiring health insurance companies such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arizona as their Third Party Administrator. These large employers will assume the total cost of this mandate, and it is unlikely they will see a penny in savings down the road. With employee turnover what it is, and a 25 year window to have a baby on average, the possibility of the employer to save premium down the road goes out the other window.