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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday said he was requiring health insurance companies to cover medically necessary abortions and most forms of contraception at no cost to women, a move that further protects and safeguards coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act.
The state department of financial services is mandating that health insurers in New York provide for at least one form of FDA-approved contraception exceeding a month's supply at a time. And women must be provided medically necessary abortions without co-pays or deductibles.
President Donald Trump and Republican members of Congress have said they will repeal the health care act as soon as possible, and that is why New York must act fast to ensure women's access to coverage and care, Cuomo said.
"These regulatory actions will help ensure that whatever happens at the federal level, women in our state will have cost-free access to reproductive health care and we hope these actions serve as a model for equality across the nation," Cuomo said. "Women deserve to make a fair wage and the same salary as any man, they deserve to work in an office free of sexual harassment, they deserve comprehensive paid family leave, and they deserve control over their health and reproductive decisions."
The regulations go a step further to ensure insurance companies can't skirt laws in any way to deny coverage. Insurance companies would face steep fines if found to be violating the laws.
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