Insurance should pay for over-the-counter birth control, White House proposes

Over 50 million women could get access to over the counter birth control pills and other contraceptives without co-payment under a new rule on private insurance, the White House said on Monday.

The regulation, which builds on a similar federal directive that under the Affordable Care Act required health insurance plans to offer access to preventative care services with no out-of-pocket cost to patients, is the purview of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury. It is, however, proposed to come into force from the financial year 2025 if the above proposal is implemented.

The new rule will enhance the availability of contraception services to 52 million women of reproductive age who have private employer-provided insurance, said the Gender Policy Council director, Jennifer Klein at a briefing on Thursday.

“For the first time ever, women will be able to purchase contraceptive drugs for sale without prescription and at no out of pocket expenses and health plans will have to cover even more prescribed contraceptives under that no out of pocket,” she said.

At the moment, Perrigo Co.’s Opill is the only low-duty daily contraceptive pill that is awaiting sale approval by the FDA without prescription but the proposed rule also covers other OTCS such as morning after pill Plan B, spermicides, birth control sponges, and condoms.

It also promulgated the rule that mandates that health plans provide coverage for all FDA approved contraceptive drugs and some devices such as IUDs without charge in various circumstances. It would also require group health plans offered by private health plans to notify customers that those contraceptives are available without any out of pocket expenses.

The proposal is made barely two weeks to the 2024 presidential elections where the abortion have been a pulling factor after the Supreme Court’s ruling on the abolishment of the Roe v Wade in 2022. For instance, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee has based her campaign on abortion.

As White House press release records, Harris has hailed the proposed rule saying that this will be the largest in the provision of contraception coverage in over a decade. “This new proposed rule will advance the work this Administration has done to safeguard reproductive rights and give millions of women better access to affordable contraception they need and want.”

The statement also targeted congressional Republicans who have ‘time and again opposed bills crucial to safeguard the access to contraceptives across the country’.

As we continue our battle for health care access and more, novel ‘leaders’ are doing their best to strip us of reproductive rights,” she said.

Ex President Donald Trump, the Republican opponent of Harris for president, has claimed twice to have nominated three of the conservative justices who brought down Roe v. Which has changed over time, and has since claimed that abortion laws should be left to the states, he was, however, not as extreme as to call for a nationwide ban which may alienate potential swing voters for the November elections.