The FDA’s choice to think about the primary birth control capsule that might be bought with out a prescription might remedy some contraception entry issues. But gaps in insurance coverage protection guidelines may make it unaffordable for some.
Why it issues: Birth control has been essential in decreasing undesirable pregnancies, and advocates say that making it as broadly and simply out there as potential is much more necessary now that abortions are banned in lots of states
The large image: “It does broaden the availability of contraception. But there is no single magic bullet to solving all problems with access and affordability issues,” mentioned Alina Salganicoff, senior vice chairman and director of ladies’s well being coverage for the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Driving the information: The FDA on Monday scheduled a joint advisory committee assembly to overview HRA Pharma’s software for what might be the primary over-the-counter birth control capsule within the U.S.
Between the strains: Eliminating the necessity for a prescription may make it simpler for girls to get the capsules, particularly in areas with a dearth of suppliers or for individuals who cannot take off work for physician visits.
- But that comfort may imply little if sufferers should pay out-of-pocket for his or her birth control and may’t afford it.
- “You have to both have a place to get it, and OTC increases the places you can get it, and you have to have a way to pay for it,” said Mara Gandal-Powers, director of birth control access at the National Women’s Law Center. “Those two things have to work together for people to get their birth control.”
The different aspect: Some anti-abortion teams argue that reproductive choices needs to be made with a health care provider, and query if the medication needs to be made out there with out a doctor or a pharmacist’s enter, the New York Times reported final yr.
Where it stands: The Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cowl contraception with out cost-sharing. But that has usually been interpreted as making use of when sufferers have a prescription.
- Federal steerage issued in July reiterated that plans should cowl emergency contraception, together with over-the-counter, with out cost-sharing “when the product is prescribed for an individual by their attending provider,” and mentioned plans are “encouraged” to do the identical when a affected person would not have a prescription.
- The steerage additionally says that well being financial savings accounts, well being versatile spending preparations and well being reimbursement preparations can reimburse sufferers for OTC contraception with out a prescription.
- Some states have gone additional than the federal authorities and require plans to cowl some or all OTC contraceptives with out a prescription, based on the Contraceptive Access Initiative.
By the numbers: An particular person pack of birth control capsules is between $20 and $50 with out insurance coverage. Annual prices can attain as much as $600, per the National Women’s Health Network.
- Over two-thirds of ladies who’re on a prescription contraceptive technique reported that the remedy is all the time totally lined, based on the Urban Institute.
What we’re watching: Advocates — together with CAI — need the administration to problem up to date steerage.
- “The federal government should take the long-overdue step of issuing a new FAQ document — as soon as possible — that explicitly states health plans’ obligation to cover OTC contraceptive products without cost-sharing and, crucially, without a prescription,” the group argues in a white paper.