Why does Texas hate self-employed mommies?

Earlier this year I experienced what is becoming a rite of passage for American workers of all stripes-I got laid off.

Now, it's not that bad because a)it gave me the opportunity to start doing what I really want to do and to do it for myself b)it gave me a greater appreciation for all the wonderful things I still have and c)it gave me insight into the world of joblessness that I hadn't had since the last time some guy named Bush was in office.

Here's an interesting insight into my state and its attitude towards those of us trying to "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps," or at least us uppity females anyway:

I'm trying to get health insurance since I'm no longer covered by my former company and my husband is an entrepreneur also w/out coverage.  This is the responsible thing, no?  After all, I don't want to be a drain on our public health system in case of emergency.  I believe in personal responsibility.  So I called around the few major companies that will still offer individual and family coverage in Texas for quotes.

Well, it's expensive.  And did I mention I'm not drawing any kind of salary?  No unemployment benefits either since I'm trying to work for myself.  Really our only affordable option is to get the high-deductible plan for unforseen catastrophes.

So I'm trying to take all this in while on the phone with a representative who's giving me the $0.05 tour through the policy of her company.  She's very knowledgable, I must say.  But something pops up in my memory about a friend of mine with a 3-year old son who told me the other day that they were still paying for his birth bills at the hospital where he was born.  My friend has insurance.  Maybe I should ask the representative about maternity coverage, just in case.  I'm of reproductive age so this is a logical question.

Well, as it turns out, she says, the State Board of Insurance doesn't require (or maybe it prohibits) insurance companies to cover costs associated with having a baby to people with individual insurance plans.  Hmmm, I say.  That seems, well, mean-spirited.  She twitters nervously.

So, let's give the benefit of the doubt here and say that the board didn't require this coverage because it's so common and including the costs would make the state even less attractive to insurers, discouraging them from offering individual coverage at all.  Let's say.  (They will allow companies to cover unusual situations like emergency c-sections, but not your standard birth.)

Now if it weren't for my friend's comment, I would have bought into this policy and paid the first month's premium that day blissfully unaware that if I got pregnant and had to go into the hospital to deliver that none of those costs would be covered even after my big-ass deductible was met.  I'm a fairly well-educated person and tend to read the fine print of everything before I sign on the dotted line, but even I am daunted and put off by the tomes of tiny print associated with insurance policies.  I would never have known because the information was not volunteered.

On to my outrage.  I was so taken aback by this that I had to mull it over before having a good rant about it.  Here goes.  What the holy fuck is the goddamned Texas legislature doing worrying about duplicating gay-marriage ban legislation when self-employed women in this state are getting screwed by insurance companies for having the babies the conservative fuckwits are constantly exhorting us to have?!?!  Jebus H Christ on a fucking crutch!  Like they can't lean on these companies that hold the huge insurance contracts for large employers, like the state, and say, "Hey, you want to do any business in this state, you better cover all our ladies in the maternity ward regardless of whether they have group or individual plans?"  What the fuck happened to gentlemen?  And it's not like all of us are unmarried and getting screwed on our own.  There are menfolk getting reamed right alongside.

Any Texans out there with experience in this?  I'd like to know who best to direct my fury at.  This has got to hurt as many righties as lefties around here, but most are probably unaware until they get their bills.