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John,
We have amazing news! Opill, an over-the-counter birth control pill, has finally started appearing for sale in pharmacies across the U.S.
However, Opill is just one kind of birth control, and it isn’t one-size-fits-all. It’s a daily progestin only pill, which won’t fit the medical or lifestyle needs of many women. Additionally, it won’t be covered by health insurance, meaning people who are struggling financially will have to incur extra costs to cover their medical needs and family planning.
We’re calling on the Biden administration to take this one step further: require insurance to cover the cost of OTC contraceptives.
Insurance coverage for all forms of contraception would reduce unnecessary barriers to affordable access, especially for young people. In a 2022 survey by Advocates for Youth,
- 88% of young people reported difficulty accessing a birth control prescription
- 55% faced so many barriers they could not get on birth control pills at all
- 1 out of 3 young people listed affordability as one of their main barriers to birth control access
Research has also shown that both adults and young people would be more likely to use an over-the-counter birth control pill if it was covered by insurance. Everyone deserves to make their own health decisions without financial burden.
Under the Affordable Care Act, most private health insurance plans are required to cover all FDA-approved methods of contraception, they can require a prescription first — which creates another financial barrier to reproductive care. The Biden administration must act to ensure that over-the-counter birth control like Opill, purchased without a prescription, be fully covered by all insurance plans, including Medicaid and other public insurance plans.
The introduction of Opill as an over-the-counter medication is huge, but we can’t stop there.
Join us in calling on President Biden to demand that insurance companies cover the cost of new over-the-counter contraceptives — without a prescription. >>
Thank you,
Democratic Values
Image by rhsupplies on Unsplash
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