A Same-Sex Infertility Health Insurance Mandate in Maryland?

Tothesurprise ofmany, inMarch, the legislatureofMarylandpassed2bills (http://bsun.md/1FIt4Um) that would amend an outdated health insurance mandate that excluded same-sex couples from coverage for in vitro fertilization treatments. Specifically, the 2 bills, proposed separately in theMarylandHouseandSenateand then amended to be identical, prohibit “insurers, nonprofit health service plans, and health maintenance organizations from requiring specified conditions of coverage for specified infertilitybenefits forapatientwho ismarried to an individual of the same sex,” (http://1.usa.gov/1AjXOsF). Thisfirst-in-the-nationeffort iswellworth the attention it has been receiving, because the implications canhardly be overstated.