Although Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation that could save women money on contraceptives, NIU students will not be affected by it, said Deborah Haliczer, director of employee relations.

As of Jan. 1, law requires insurance companies that cover prescription drugs to insure Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives.

Haliczer, who also is the administrator to whom the Insurance and Employee Benefits Office reports, said the legislation will not affect students who participate in NIU’s insurance plan because the plan does not provide prescription coverage.

The new legislation may, however, affect birth control for NIU faculty and staff who are covered under the state of Illinois insurance plan, Haliczer said.

“Currently, some of the HMO plans reimburse for prescription birth control,” Haliczer said. “But the Quality Care program, the insurance plan that the greatest number of employees choose, does not cover prescription contraceptives. For employees at NIU, this will make a difference.”

Haliczer said all state benefit plans begin on July 1, the new fiscal year. Because of the legislation, all participating NIU employees now can be eligible for reimbursement for prescription contraceptives when the next fiscal year begins.

“Students who are covered on their family’s insurance plan can be eligible for insurance for contraceptives if that plan has prescription coverage,” Haliczer said. “This is a sensitive issue, since many students prefer to keep their contraceptive practices private from their parents. Their best option is to seek confidential gynecology services at University Health Service.”

Virginia Wilcox-Gok, an associate professor in the department of economics, said birth control is used for a variety of different reasons, not just to avoid pregnancy.

“Contraceptives are sometimes prescribed for health reasons rather than the patient’s simple desire to avoid pregnancy,” she said. “If contraceptives were not generally covered for any woman who wished to avoid pregnancy, it would be difficult and expensive for insurers to distinguish which prescriptions should legitimately be covered. To avoid this expense, private health insurers have often chosen to cover all contraceptive use.”

Although the legislation just has taken effect, the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women at NIU has lobbied in support of the legislation.

Haliczer said the commission gathered support from various campus-elected constituencies and asked President Peters to write to the state agency that makes decisions on benefits to advocate support for the legislation.

“The president wrote advocating for this benefit,” Haliczer said. “We learned last fall that this law had been passed and that prescription contraceptive coverage will be part of the employee benefit package starting in July.”