CORE POLICY ANALYSIS

The Policy on Health Insurance Coverage for Birth Control Without Co-Pays

The Policy on Health Insurance Coverage for Birth Control Without Co-Pays

Introduction

The Policy on Health Insurance Coverage for Birth Control Without Co-Pays On March 23, 2010, Obama signed the PPACA into law, overhauling the nation's health care system and extending medical insurance to uninsured U.S. residents. Previous presidents had been unsuccessful in their attempts to insure more U.S. residents. Prior to passage of the PPACA, Senator Barbara Mikulski (D, Maryland) had offered an amendment, passed in December 2009, guaranteeing that women would receive preventive health care and screenings, such as mammograms to detect breast cancer, at no cost, to be covered in full by insurance companies. Abortion was specifically not included under the amendment.

Discussion

Certain religious employers, such as churches that offer health insurance plans for their employees, would be exempt from the requirement on birth control coverage, but some groups maintained that the exemption was too narrow and that it should cover a broader range of organizations concerned with so-called conscience rights. Others objected to the choices the law offered to religious institutions that provide health care (Ziegenfuss & Davern, 2011). A number of Catholic organizations, for instance, such as Catholic Charities USA, pointed out that the Church's only choices were either to violate its own beliefs by providing insurance coverage for the kinds of contraceptive services it deems objectionable, or to refrain from offering its employees health insurance, which, as per the health care reform bill, would require that it pay a large fee. Either way, many U.S. Catholic officials feel, they lose.

Those opposed to the new policy on religious grounds urged Congress to pass the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act, introduced in the House by Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R, Nebraska) and in the Senate by Senator Roy Blunt (R, Missouri), to ensure that the rights of religious organizations to follow their conscience were not violated (Cummins, 2011). While those groups voiced negative reactions to the new policy on birth control, positive response came from women's rights activists and many experts in women's health, who had long supported policies to remove cost as a barrier to birth control. It was estimated that co-pays for contraceptives could cost women up to $50 each month for birth control pills and even more for IUDs. According to Laura Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union, a national organization concerned with individual rights and liberties, "Contraception is basic health care for women," so the new policy "means affordable, effective contraception will no longer be out of reach for millions of women” (Cummins, 2011). Some activists advocated going even further, suggesting that the birth control pill should be made available over the counter, without a doctor's prescription (Gable, 2011).

Those in favor of having insurance companies cover birth control medication without co-pays claim that the policy will make it easier for women to afford their contraceptives, which will in turn lead to their choosing the most effective birth control methods for them (Cummins, ...