JUNEAU, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Wednesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have required insurance companies to cover up to a year’s supply of contraceptives at a time, a measure his supporters called especially important for ensuring access in rural areas.
In an emailed statement, Dunleavy spokesman Jeff Turner said the Republican governor vetoed the bill because “contraceptives are widely available and requiring insurance companies to provide mandatory coverage for a year is bad policy.”
The measure passed the state Legislature overwhelmingly this year, 29-11 in the Republican-controlled House and 16-3 in the bipartisan Senate. Insurance companies did not oppose it, its supporters said.
“Governor Dunleavy’s veto of HB 17, after eight years of tireless effort, overwhelming community support, and positive collaboration with insurance companies, is deeply disappointing,” said Democratic Rep. Ashley Carrick, the bill’s sponsor. “There is simply no valid reason to veto a bill that would ensure every person in Alaska, no matter where they live, has access to essential medicines, like birth control.”
Supporters of the bill said the veto would keep in place barriers that make it difficult to access birth control in much of the state, including fly-in villages and for Alaska patients on Medicaid, which limits the supply of birth control pills to one month at a time.
“Those who live outside our urban centers – whether year-round or seasonally – deserve the same access to birth control as those who live near a pharmacy,” Rose O’Hara-Jolley, Alaska state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, said in a news release.
Supporters of the bill also said that better access to birth control would reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
