Forty-eight U.S. Senators despatched a letter to the Departments of Well being and Human Providers, Treasury and Labor on Monday, urgent the Biden Administration to require federally and state-regulated medical health insurance plans to cowl over-the-counter contraceptives.
The letter was led by Senators Patty Murray (D-Washington), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Ron Wyden (D-Oregon). It comes a number of months after the Meals and Drug Administration authorised Opill, the primary every day oral contraceptive authorised for non-prescription use within the U.S. It should turn out to be obtainable in 2024. Nevertheless, present steering permits federally and state-regulated personal well being plans to require sufferers to get a prescription for over-the-counter contraceptives so as to obtain well being protection with no cost-sharing.
“The provision of protected and efficient OTC contraception merchandise has monumental potential to assist individuals overcome vital limitations to constant contraceptive use, together with the various logistical and monetary challenges to acquiring a prescription,” the senators mentioned. “The FDA’s approval of Opill is a milestone; nevertheless, for an OTC contraception tablet to satisfy its potential and be actually accessible, federal departments should make sure that it’s coated with out cost-sharing and with out the necessity for a prescription as a situation of protection.”
Additionally they requested for added steps by the departments, together with:
- Working with healthcare stakeholders to verify protection of over-the-counter contraceptives runs easily at pharmacies and through mail order
- Offering discover to beneficiaries and well being stakeholders about adjustments to protection, and data on “navigate and facilitate” protection of over-the-counter contraceptives
- Offering steering that encourages state Medicaid applications to cowl over-the-counter contraception and not using a prescription
- Giving pharmacies, suppliers and insurers steering on enhance claims processing and reimbursement for over-the-counter contraception
At present, greater than 19 million ladies of reproductive age within the U.S. dwell in contraceptive deserts, based on Energy to Determine, a corporation centered on sexual and reproductive well being. As well as, a few third of girls who’ve acquired prescription contraceptives have skilled limitations to accessing contraception, analysis by KFF reveals. The senators famous that “given the elevated want for entry to contraception within the wake of the Dobbs choice, this challenge is extremely well timed and essential.” The Dobbs choice took away the constitutional proper to abortion.
Dana Singiser, co-founder of the Contraceptive Entry Initiative, applauded the senators for the letter. The group is a nonprofit advocating for improved entry to contraception.
“It is mindless to cowl contraception when obtained with a prescription, and never cowl it with out — the large well being advantages are the identical,” Singiser mentioned in a assertion. “Folks ought to be capable to use their insurance coverage protection for contraception drugs whether or not they get it by prescription from a medical supplier or whether or not they merely buy it off the shelf at a pharmacy.”
Photograph: MikeyLPT, Getty Photographs
