By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | South Carolina’s Medicaid agency has altered its policy to allow beneficiaries to receive a 12-month supply of birth control, instead of the previous 30-day supply limit, effective July 1.
The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services does not expect a budgetary impact from the move, the notice said.
“That’s a nice, really good victory that went under the radar,” Columbia Democratic Rep. Beth Bernstein said this week.
Bernstein worked with fellow lawmakers for several legislative sessions on a bipartisan plan to mandate Medicaid and private insurance plans to cover one year’s supply of self-administered contraceptives. But little movement was made, she said.
For many women, particularly those in rural areas, getting a prescription filled monthly was burdensome, Bernstein said.
“The opportunity to miss that pill was much greater and I think the state sees it as the cost of an unintended pregnancy is much more on the state than the cost of a 12-month supply of birth control,” Bernstein said.
DHHS did not respond to a request seeking comment on this story.
In other news:
Flag rally to be held Saturday. Today is the five-year anniversary of the Confederate battle flag’s removal from the Statehouse grounds. Tomorrow, the South Carolina Memorial Honour Guard, reenacting a Confederate-era honor guard, and Flags Across the South have plans to showcase the Confederate battle flag on Statehouse grounds. Showing Up for Racial Justice will rally tomorrow at the Statehouse in favor of the flag’s removal. Read more.
DHHS study to be discussed. The Legislative Oversight Healthcare and Regulatory subcommittee will meet virtually at 10 a.m. July 28 to discuss the study of the S.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The meeting will be livestreamed on SCETV, according to the agenda. A Legislative Oversight survey of the agency showed that more than half of respondents have a positive view of the agency.
A growing homeless population could be even more vulnerable. The state could see an increase in its homeless population amid the economic crisis surrounding the pandemic, and experts are warning heat-related deaths could increase as homeless people are unable to access air-conditioned public buildings, shuttered in the pandemic. Read more here.
Time to pay taxes. The S.C. Department of Revenue matched the IRS in extending the deadline for 2019 tax returns to July 15. Both will be due next week. Read more. According to S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Director Frank Rainwater, tax payments will help the state get a clearer picture of revenue impacts for the 2020-2021 budget that lawmakers plan to draft in September.
Federal judge awards $192.5M settlement in nuclear case. Former shareholders of SCANA Corp. have earned a $192.5 million legal settlement after a federal judge’s approval Thursday over the failed V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project that sank $9 billion and led to SCANA’s sale to Dominion Energy. The deal is being hailed as the largest investor-related settlement in South Carolina history. Read more.
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