Bill Description: Senate Bill 1260 would require health benefit plans to pay for a 6-month supply of contraceptives at one time. 

Rating: -2

Analyst Note: Senate Bill 1260 is similar to Senate Bill 1098 from 2021 and Senate Bill 1275 from 2020, both of which failed. 

Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?

Senate Bill 1260 creates Section 41-1853, Idaho Code, which says, "A health benefit plan or student health benefit plan issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2023, that includes coverage for prescription contraception must provide reimbursement for prescription contraception intended to last six (6) months obtained at one (1) time by the enrollee ..." 

This bill attempts to substitute the supposed wisdom of central planners for the spontaneous order of the free market. We should allow the market to determine what constitutes a reasonable supply of prescription contraceptives, not needlessly insert government into the situation.

(-1)

Additionally, Senate Bill 1260 mandates that the health benefit plan or student health benefit plan allow enrollees "to receive prescription contraception on-site at the prescribing provider's office, if available." Once again, government is intruding into the market to mandate how and where prescriptions should be dispensed. 

(-1)