Birth Control Guidance For Insurers Aims To Boost Coverage, Smooth Exemption ‘Pathway’

 
• By Leslie Small
  
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Three-agency guidance, issued as Biden administration is hoping to emphasize reproductive rights in its reelection campaign, outlines the narrow set of circumstances in which a health plan doesn’t have to fully cover certain types of birth control.

contraceptives
• Source: Shutterstock

On 22 January, the 51st anniversary of the now-overturned Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, the Biden administration seized the opportunity to reaffirm its support for reproductive rights – a stance it appears to be increasingly emphasizing as the 2024 presidential election draws near. As part of that effort, three federal agencies issued new guidance to help health plans and issuers avoid running afoul of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate.

Key Takeaways

  • Guidance says if insurer covers one birth control method per HRSA-defined category, it doesn’t have to cover any other therapeutically equivalent drugs/drug-led devices in same category.

Health policy experts who spoke to the Pink Sheet’s affiliate AIS Health, a division of MMIT, say that the guidance...

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