Health Care & Reproductive Rights

Access to safe and reliable contraception is an essential component of health care for women. The health care law, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), appropriately recognizes contraception as a key preventive health service for women, and requires all new insurance plans to provide coverage of the full range of FDA-approved contraceptives without cost-sharing for women. Before this important national victory for women’s health, some health insurance plans excluded coverage for prescription contraceptives even while covering other prescription drugs and devices and preventive care. That gender gap in health care coverage was challenged by states all across the country, which specifically passed laws to require contraceptive equity in health insurance coverage. There are 26 states with contraceptive equity laws. These state laws are the focus of this Consumer Guide.

The IOM released its findings on July 19, 2011, recommending coverage and no cost-sharing for a range of important women's preventive health services including screening for cervical cancer; critical health services for pregnant women, including breastfeeding support; screening for intimate partner violence; and all FDA-approved forms of contraception.3 HHS adopted the IOM's recommendations on August 1, 2011. Unfortunately, HHS has included in its Interim Final Rules (IFR) a provision that would allow certain religious employers to exclude contraceptive services from their employees' health plans. Rather than giving all women true contraceptive access, the exemption arbitrarily precludes certain women from receiving needed preventive care. Women who work for employers who invoke an exemption will not receive the intended benefits, and will be required to pay for what the IOM and HHS itself have determined should be available with no co-pay.